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:
44 = 2 × 2 × 11 = 22 × 11
44 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
200,100 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 23 × 29 = 22 × 3 × 52 × 23 × 29
200,100 is a composite number.
44/200,100 =
(44 ÷ 4) / (200,100 ÷ 4) =
11/50,025
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.
44/200,100 =
(22 × 11)/(22 × 3 × 52 × 23 × 29) =
((22 × 11) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 3 × 52 × 23 × 29) ÷ 22) =
11/(3 × 52 × 23 × 29) =
11/50,025
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
11/50,025 =
11 ÷ 50,025 =
0.000219890055 ≈
0