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:
4,590 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 17 = 2 × 33 × 5 × 17
4,590 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
123,724 = 2 × 2 × 30,931 = 22 × 30,931
123,724 is a composite number.
4,590/123,724 =
(4,590 ÷ 2) / (123,724 ÷ 2) =
2,295/61,862
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.
4,590/123,724 =
(2 × 33 × 5 × 17)/(22 × 30,931) =
((2 × 33 × 5 × 17) ÷ 2) / ((22 × 30,931) ÷ 2) =
(33 × 5 × 17)/(2 × 30,931) =
2,295/61,862
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,295/61,862 =
2,295 ÷ 61,862 =
0.037098703566 ≈
0.04