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:
4,408 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 19 × 29 = 23 × 19 × 29
4,408 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
70,012 = 2 × 2 × 23 × 761 = 22 × 23 × 761
70,012 is a composite number.
4,408/70,012 =
(4,408 ÷ 4) / (70,012 ÷ 4) =
1,102/17,503
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.
4,408/70,012 =
(23 × 19 × 29)/(22 × 23 × 761) =
((23 × 19 × 29) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 23 × 761) ÷ 22) =
(2 × 19 × 29)/(23 × 761) =
1,102/17,503
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,102/17,503 =
1,102 ÷ 17,503 =
0.06296063532 ≈
0.06