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:
4,550 = 2 × 5 × 5 × 7 × 13 = 2 × 52 × 7 × 13
4,550 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
5,848 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 17 × 43 = 23 × 17 × 43
5,848 is a composite number.
4,550/5,848 =
(4,550 ÷ 2) / (5,848 ÷ 2) =
2,275/2,924
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.
4,550/5,848 =
(2 × 52 × 7 × 13)/(23 × 17 × 43) =
((2 × 52 × 7 × 13) ÷ 2) / ((23 × 17 × 43) ÷ 2) =
(52 × 7 × 13)/(22 × 17 × 43) =
2,275/2,924
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,275/2,924 =
2,275 ÷ 2,924 =
0.77804377565 ≈
0.78