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:
40,540,542 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 19,699 = 2 × 3 × 73 × 19,699
40,540,542 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
60,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 28 × 3 × 57
60,000,000 is a composite number.
40,540,542/60,000,000 =
(40,540,542 ÷ 6) / (60,000,000 ÷ 6) =
6,756,757/10,000,000
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.
40,540,542/60,000,000 =
(2 × 3 × 73 × 19,699)/(28 × 3 × 57) =
((2 × 3 × 73 × 19,699) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((28 × 3 × 57) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(73 × 19,699)/(27 × 57) =
6,756,757/10,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
6,756,757/10,000,000 =
6,756,757 ÷ 10,000,000 =
0.6756757 ≈
0.68