To reduce a fraction to the lowest terms equivalent: divide the numerator and denominator by their greatest common factor, GCF
To calculate the greatest common factor, GCF:
- 1. Factor the numerator and the denominator (into prime factors), build their prime factorizations.
- 2. Multiply all their common prime factors, taken by the lowest exponents.
1. Factor the numerator and the denominator:
To factor a number (into prime factors) - or, in other words, to break it down to prime factors - or, in other words, to build its prime factorization: find the prime numbers that multiply together to get that number.
The prime factorizations:
30 = 2 × 3 × 5
30 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,024 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 62,500,003 = 23 × 62,500,003
500,000,024 is a composite number.
30/500,000,024 =
(30 ÷ 2) / (500,000,024 ÷ 2) =
15/250,000,012
Yet another method to reduce the fraction
To reduce a fraction without calculating the GCF: factor its numerator and denominator, then all the common prime factors are easily identified and crossed out.
30/500,000,024 =
(2 × 3 × 5)/(23 × 62,500,003) =
((2 × 3 × 5) ÷ 2) / ((23 × 62,500,003) ÷ 2) =
(3 × 5)/(22 × 62,500,003) =
15/250,000,012
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
15/250,000,012 =
15 ÷ 250,000,012 =
0.00000006 ≈
0