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:
35 = 5 × 7
35 is a composite number.
400,000,000,022 = 2 × 7 × 17 × 419 × 547 × 7,333
400,000,000,022 is a composite number.
35/400,000,000,022 =
(35 ÷ 7) / (400,000,000,022 ÷ 7) =
5/57,142,857,146
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.
35/400,000,000,022 =
(5 × 7)/(2 × 7 × 17 × 419 × 547 × 7,333) =
((5 × 7) ÷ 7) / ((2 × 7 × 17 × 419 × 547 × 7,333) ÷ 7) =
5/(2 × 17 × 419 × 547 × 7,333) =
5/57,142,857,146
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5/57,142,857,146 =
5 ÷ 57,142,857,146 =
0.000000000087 ≈
0