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:
3,819,492 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 17 × 79 × 79 = 22 × 32 × 17 × 792
3,819,492 is a composite number.
31,250,049 = 3 × 569 × 18,307
31,250,049 is a composite number.
3,819,492/31,250,049 =
(3,819,492 ÷ 3) / (31,250,049 ÷ 3) =
1,273,164/10,416,683
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.
3,819,492/31,250,049 =
(22 × 32 × 17 × 792)/(3 × 569 × 18,307) =
((22 × 32 × 17 × 792) ÷ 3) / ((3 × 569 × 18,307) ÷ 3) =
(22 × 3 × 17 × 792)/(569 × 18,307) =
1,273,164/10,416,683
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,273,164/10,416,683 =
1,273,164 ÷ 10,416,683 =
0.122223552353 ≈
0.12