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:
4,256 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 19 = 25 × 7 × 19
4,256 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
60,100 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 601 = 22 × 52 × 601
60,100 is a composite number.
4,256/60,100 =
(4,256 ÷ 4) / (60,100 ÷ 4) =
1,064/15,025
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.
4,256/60,100 =
(25 × 7 × 19)/(22 × 52 × 601) =
((25 × 7 × 19) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 52 × 601) ÷ 22) =
(23 × 7 × 19)/(52 × 601) =
1,064/15,025
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,064/15,025 =
1,064 ÷ 15,025 =
0.07081530782 ≈
0.07