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:
123,744 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 1,289 = 25 × 3 × 1,289
123,744 is a composite number.
4,590/123,744 =
(4,590 ÷ 6) / (123,744 ÷ 6) =
765/20,624
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.
4,590/123,744 =
(2 × 33 × 5 × 17)/(25 × 3 × 1,289) =
((2 × 33 × 5 × 17) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((25 × 3 × 1,289) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(32 × 5 × 17)/(24 × 1,289) =
765/20,624
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
765/20,624 =
765 ÷ 20,624 =
0.037092707525 ≈
0.04