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:
424,249 = 7 × 60,607
424,249 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
3,500,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 = 25 × 56 × 7
3,500,000 is a composite number.
424,249/3,500,000 =
(424,249 ÷ 7) / (3,500,000 ÷ 7) =
60,607/500,000
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.
424,249/3,500,000 =
(7 × 60,607)/(25 × 56 × 7) =
((7 × 60,607) ÷ 7) / ((25 × 56 × 7) ÷ 7) =
60,607/(25 × 56) =
60,607/500,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
60,607/500,000 =
60,607 ÷ 500,000 =
0.121214 ≈
0.12