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:
34,083 = 3 × 3 × 7 × 541 = 32 × 7 × 541
34,083 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
35,640 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 11 = 23 × 34 × 5 × 11
35,640 is a composite number.
34,083/35,640 =
(34,083 ÷ 9) / (35,640 ÷ 9) =
3,787/3,960
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.
34,083/35,640 =
(32 × 7 × 541)/(23 × 34 × 5 × 11) =
((32 × 7 × 541) ÷ 32) / ((23 × 34 × 5 × 11) ÷ 32) =
(7 × 541)/(23 × 32 × 5 × 11) =
3,787/3,960
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3,787/3,960 =
3,787 ÷ 3,960 =
0.956313131313 ≈
0.96