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:
3,535,535 = 5 × 29 × 37 × 659
3,535,535 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
5,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 26 × 57
5,000,000 is a composite number.
3,535,535/5,000,000 =
(3,535,535 ÷ 5) / (5,000,000 ÷ 5) =
707,107/1,000,000
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.
3,535,535/5,000,000 =
(5 × 29 × 37 × 659)/(26 × 57) =
((5 × 29 × 37 × 659) ÷ 5) / ((26 × 57) ÷ 5) =
(29 × 37 × 659)/(26 × 56) =
707,107/1,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
707,107/1,000,000 =
707,107 ÷ 1,000,000 =
0.707107 ≈
0.71