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:
427 = 7 × 61
427 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
2,797,200 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 7 × 37 = 24 × 33 × 52 × 7 × 37
2,797,200 is a composite number.
427/2,797,200 =
(427 ÷ 7) / (2,797,200 ÷ 7) =
61/399,600
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.
427/2,797,200 =
(7 × 61)/(24 × 33 × 52 × 7 × 37) =
((7 × 61) ÷ 7) / ((24 × 33 × 52 × 7 × 37) ÷ 7) =
61/(24 × 33 × 52 × 37) =
61/399,600
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
61/399,600 =
61 ÷ 399,600 =
0.000152652653 ≈
0