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:
372 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 31 = 22 × 3 × 31
372 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
1,000,128 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5,209 = 26 × 3 × 5,209
1,000,128 is a composite number.
372/1,000,128 =
(372 ÷ 12) / (1,000,128 ÷ 12) =
31/83,344
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.
372/1,000,128 =
(22 × 3 × 31)/(26 × 3 × 5,209) =
((22 × 3 × 31) ÷ (22 × 3)) / ((26 × 3 × 5,209) ÷ (22 × 3)) =
31/(24 × 5,209) =
31/83,344
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
31/83,344 =
31 ÷ 83,344 =
0.00037195239 ≈
0