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:
375 = 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 3 × 53
375 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
1,000,134 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 18,521 = 2 × 33 × 18,521
1,000,134 is a composite number.
375/1,000,134 =
(375 ÷ 3) / (1,000,134 ÷ 3) =
125/333,378
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.
375/1,000,134 =
(3 × 53)/(2 × 33 × 18,521) =
((3 × 53) ÷ 3) / ((2 × 33 × 18,521) ÷ 3) =
53/(2 × 32 × 18,521) =
125/333,378
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
125/333,378 =
125 ÷ 333,378 =
0.000374949757 ≈
0