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:
40 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 = 23 × 5
40 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,036 = 2 × 2 × 23 × 1,021 × 5,323 = 22 × 23 × 1,021 × 5,323
500,000,036 is a composite number.
40/500,000,036 =
(40 ÷ 4) / (500,000,036 ÷ 4) =
10/125,000,009
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.
40/500,000,036 =
(23 × 5)/(22 × 23 × 1,021 × 5,323) =
((23 × 5) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 23 × 1,021 × 5,323) ÷ 22) =
(2 × 5)/(23 × 1,021 × 5,323) =
10/125,000,009
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
10/125,000,009 =
10 ÷ 125,000,009 =
0.00000008 ≈
0