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:
37,880 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 947 = 23 × 5 × 947
37,880 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
49,995 = 3 × 3 × 5 × 11 × 101 = 32 × 5 × 11 × 101
49,995 is a composite number.
37,880/49,995 =
(37,880 ÷ 5) / (49,995 ÷ 5) =
7,576/9,999
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.
37,880/49,995 =
(23 × 5 × 947)/(32 × 5 × 11 × 101) =
((23 × 5 × 947) ÷ 5) / ((32 × 5 × 11 × 101) ÷ 5) =
(23 × 947)/(32 × 11 × 101) =
7,576/9,999
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,576/9,999 =
7,576 ÷ 9,999 =
0.757675767577 ≈
0.76