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:
40,540,528 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 19 × 19,051 = 24 × 7 × 19 × 19,051
40,540,528 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
59,999,992 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 13 × 701 × 823 = 23 × 13 × 701 × 823
59,999,992 is a composite number.
40,540,528/59,999,992 =
(40,540,528 ÷ 8) / (59,999,992 ÷ 8) =
5,067,566/7,499,999
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.
40,540,528/59,999,992 =
(24 × 7 × 19 × 19,051)/(23 × 13 × 701 × 823) =
((24 × 7 × 19 × 19,051) ÷ 23) / ((23 × 13 × 701 × 823) ÷ 23) =
(2 × 7 × 19 × 19,051)/(13 × 701 × 823) =
5,067,566/7,499,999
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
5,067,566/7,499,999 =
5,067,566 ÷ 7,499,999 =
0.675675556757 ≈
0.68