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:
36 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 = 22 × 32
36 is a composite number.
4,000,000,089 = 3 × 313 × 1,151 × 3,701
4,000,000,089 is a composite number.
36/4,000,000,089 =
(36 ÷ 3) / (4,000,000,089 ÷ 3) =
12/1,333,333,363
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.
36/4,000,000,089 =
(22 × 32)/(3 × 313 × 1,151 × 3,701) =
((22 × 32) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 313 × 1,151 × 3,701) ÷ 3) =
(22 × 3)/(313 × 1,151 × 3,701) =
12/1,333,333,363
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
12/1,333,333,363 =
12 ÷ 1,333,333,363 =
0.000000009 ≈
0