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:
3,537 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 131 = 33 × 131
3,537 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
40,014 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 13 × 19 = 2 × 34 × 13 × 19
40,014 is a composite number.
3,537/40,014 =
(3,537 ÷ 27) / (40,014 ÷ 27) =
131/1,482
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.
3,537/40,014 =
(33 × 131)/(2 × 34 × 13 × 19) =
((33 × 131) ÷ 33) / ((2 × 34 × 13 × 19) ÷ 33) =
131/(2 × 3 × 13 × 19) =
131/1,482
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
131/1,482 =
131 ÷ 1,482 =
0.088394062078 ≈
0.09