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:
42 = 2 × 3 × 7
42 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,060 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 7 × 3,571,429 = 22 × 5 × 7 × 3,571,429
500,000,060 is a composite number.
42/500,000,060 =
(42 ÷ 14) / (500,000,060 ÷ 14) =
3/35,714,290
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.
42/500,000,060 =
(2 × 3 × 7)/(22 × 5 × 7 × 3,571,429) =
((2 × 3 × 7) ÷ (2 × 7)) / ((22 × 5 × 7 × 3,571,429) ÷ (2 × 7)) =
3/(2 × 5 × 3,571,429) =
3/35,714,290
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3/35,714,290 =
3 ÷ 35,714,290 =
0.000000084 ≈
0