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:
4,568 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 571 = 23 × 571
4,568 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
123,712 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 1,933 = 26 × 1,933
123,712 is a composite number.
4,568/123,712 =
(4,568 ÷ 8) / (123,712 ÷ 8) =
571/15,464
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.
4,568/123,712 =
(23 × 571)/(26 × 1,933) =
((23 × 571) ÷ 23) / ((26 × 1,933) ÷ 23) =
571/(23 × 1,933) =
571/15,464
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
571/15,464 =
571 ÷ 15,464 =
0.036924469736 ≈
0.04