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:
3,984 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 83 = 24 × 3 × 83
3,984 is a composite number.
8,750,014 = 2 × 7 × 13 × 131 × 367
8,750,014 is a composite number.
3,984/8,750,014 =
(3,984 ÷ 2) / (8,750,014 ÷ 2) =
1,992/4,375,007
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.
3,984/8,750,014 =
(24 × 3 × 83)/(2 × 7 × 13 × 131 × 367) =
((24 × 3 × 83) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 7 × 13 × 131 × 367) ÷ 2) =
(23 × 3 × 83)/(7 × 13 × 131 × 367) =
1,992/4,375,007
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,992/4,375,007 =
1,992 ÷ 4,375,007 =
0.000455313557 ≈
0