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:
4,596 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 383 = 22 × 3 × 383
4,596 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.
4,596/123,732 =
(4,596 ÷ 12) / (123,732 ÷ 12) =
383/10,311
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.
4,596/123,732 =
(22 × 3 × 383)/(22 × 32 × 7 × 491) =
((22 × 3 × 383) ÷ (22 × 3)) / ((22 × 32 × 7 × 491) ÷ (22 × 3)) =
383/(3 × 7 × 491) =
383/10,311
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
383/10,311 =
383 ÷ 10,311 =
0.037144796819 ≈
0.04