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:
123,736 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 15,467 = 23 × 15,467
123,736 is a composite number.
4,578/123,736 =
(4,578 ÷ 2) / (123,736 ÷ 2) =
2,289/61,868
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.
4,578/123,736 =
(2 × 3 × 7 × 109)/(23 × 15,467) =
((2 × 3 × 7 × 109) ÷ 2) / ((23 × 15,467) ÷ 2) =
(3 × 7 × 109)/(22 × 15,467) =
2,289/61,868
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,289/61,868 =
2,289 ÷ 61,868 =
0.03699812504 ≈
0.04