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:
378 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 = 2 × 33 × 7
378 is a composite number.
1,000,122 = 2 × 3 × 19 × 31 × 283
1,000,122 is a composite number.
378/1,000,122 =
(378 ÷ 6) / (1,000,122 ÷ 6) =
63/166,687
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.
378/1,000,122 =
(2 × 33 × 7)/(2 × 3 × 19 × 31 × 283) =
((2 × 33 × 7) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 3 × 19 × 31 × 283) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(32 × 7)/(19 × 31 × 283) =
63/166,687
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
63/166,687 =
63 ÷ 166,687 =
0.00037795389 ≈
0