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:
4,004 = 2 × 2 × 7 × 11 × 13 = 22 × 7 × 11 × 13
4,004 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
10,096 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 631 = 24 × 631
10,096 is a composite number.
4,004/10,096 =
(4,004 ÷ 4) / (10,096 ÷ 4) =
1,001/2,524
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.
4,004/10,096 =
(22 × 7 × 11 × 13)/(24 × 631) =
((22 × 7 × 11 × 13) ÷ 22) / ((24 × 631) ÷ 22) =
(7 × 11 × 13)/(22 × 631) =
1,001/2,524
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,001/2,524 =
1,001 ÷ 2,524 =
0.396592709984 ≈
0.4