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:
Written with exponents:
3,168 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 11 = 25 × 32 × 11
3,168 is a composite number.
50,018 = 2 × 89 × 281
50,018 is a composite number.
3,168/50,018 =
(3,168 ÷ 2) / (50,018 ÷ 2) =
1,584/25,009
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.
3,168/50,018 =
(25 × 32 × 11)/(2 × 89 × 281) =
((25 × 32 × 11) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 89 × 281) ÷ 2) =
(24 × 32 × 11)/(89 × 281) =
1,584/25,009
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,584/25,009 =
1,584 ÷ 25,009 =
0.063337198609 ≈
0.06