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:
370,372 = 2 × 2 × 92,593 = 22 × 92,593
370,372 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
666,666 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37 = 2 × 32 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37
666,666 is a composite number.
370,372/666,666 =
(370,372 ÷ 2) / (666,666 ÷ 2) =
185,186/333,333
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.
370,372/666,666 =
(22 × 92,593)/(2 × 32 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37) =
((22 × 92,593) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 32 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37) ÷ 2) =
(2 × 92,593)/(32 × 7 × 11 × 13 × 37) =
185,186/333,333
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
185,186/333,333 =
185,186 ÷ 333,333 =
0.555558555559 ≈
0.56