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:
32 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 25
32 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,058 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 27,777,781 = 2 × 32 × 27,777,781
500,000,058 is a composite number.
32/500,000,058 =
(32 ÷ 2) / (500,000,058 ÷ 2) =
16/250,000,029
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.
32/500,000,058 =
25/(2 × 32 × 27,777,781) =
(25 ÷ 2) / ((2 × 32 × 27,777,781) ÷ 2) =
24/(32 × 27,777,781) =
16/250,000,029
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
16/250,000,029 =
16 ÷ 250,000,029 =
0.000000064 ≈
0