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.
Written with exponents:
1,000,136 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 125,017 = 23 × 125,017
1,000,136 is a composite number.
378/1,000,136 =
(378 ÷ 2) / (1,000,136 ÷ 2) =
189/500,068
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.
378/1,000,136 =
(2 × 33 × 7)/(23 × 125,017) =
((2 × 33 × 7) ÷ 2) / ((23 × 125,017) ÷ 2) =
(33 × 7)/(22 × 125,017) =
189/500,068
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
189/500,068 =
189 ÷ 500,068 =
0.000377948599 ≈
0