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:
34,615,395 = 3 × 3 × 5 × 769,231 = 32 × 5 × 769,231
34,615,395 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
50,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 27 × 58
50,000,000 is a composite number.
34,615,395/50,000,000 =
(34,615,395 ÷ 5) / (50,000,000 ÷ 5) =
6,923,079/10,000,000
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.
34,615,395/50,000,000 =
(32 × 5 × 769,231)/(27 × 58) =
((32 × 5 × 769,231) ÷ 5) / ((27 × 58) ÷ 5) =
(32 × 769,231)/(27 × 57) =
6,923,079/10,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
6,923,079/10,000,000 =
6,923,079 ÷ 10,000,000 =
0.6923079 ≈
0.69