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:
4,581 = 3 × 3 × 509 = 32 × 509
4,581 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
123,732 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 491 = 22 × 32 × 7 × 491
123,732 is a composite number.
4,581/123,732 =
(4,581 ÷ 9) / (123,732 ÷ 9) =
509/13,748
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.
4,581/123,732 =
(32 × 509)/(22 × 32 × 7 × 491) =
((32 × 509) ÷ 32) / ((22 × 32 × 7 × 491) ÷ 32) =
509/(22 × 7 × 491) =
509/13,748
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
509/13,748 =
509 ÷ 13,748 =
0.037023567064 ≈
0.04