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:
4,578 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 109
4,578 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
123,714 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 29 × 79 = 2 × 33 × 29 × 79
123,714 is a composite number.
4,578/123,714 =
(4,578 ÷ 6) / (123,714 ÷ 6) =
763/20,619
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.
4,578/123,714 =
(2 × 3 × 7 × 109)/(2 × 33 × 29 × 79) =
((2 × 3 × 7 × 109) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 33 × 29 × 79) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(7 × 109)/(32 × 29 × 79) =
763/20,619
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
763/20,619 =
763 ÷ 20,619 =
0.037004704399 ≈
0.04