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.
Written with exponents:
500,000,056 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 17 × 17 × 216,263 = 23 × 172 × 216,263
500,000,056 is a composite number.
36/500,000,056 =
(36 ÷ 4) / (500,000,056 ÷ 4) =
9/125,000,014
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.
36/500,000,056 =
(22 × 32)/(23 × 172 × 216,263) =
((22 × 32) ÷ 22) / ((23 × 172 × 216,263) ÷ 22) =
32/(2 × 172 × 216,263) =
9/125,000,014
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
9/125,000,014 =
9 ÷ 125,000,014 =
0.000000072 ≈
0