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:
396 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 11 = 22 × 32 × 11
396 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
1,000,152 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 29 × 479 = 23 × 32 × 29 × 479
1,000,152 is a composite number.
396/1,000,152 =
(396 ÷ 36) / (1,000,152 ÷ 36) =
11/27,782
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.
396/1,000,152 =
(22 × 32 × 11)/(23 × 32 × 29 × 479) =
((22 × 32 × 11) ÷ (22 × 32)) / ((23 × 32 × 29 × 479) ÷ (22 × 32)) =
11/(2 × 29 × 479) =
11/27,782
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
11/27,782 =
11 ÷ 27,782 =
0.000395939817 ≈
0