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:
4,600 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 23 = 23 × 52 × 23
4,600 is a composite number.
123,706 = 2 × 11 × 5,623
123,706 is a composite number.
4,600/123,706 =
(4,600 ÷ 2) / (123,706 ÷ 2) =
2,300/61,853
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.
4,600/123,706 =
(23 × 52 × 23)/(2 × 11 × 5,623) =
((23 × 52 × 23) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 11 × 5,623) ÷ 2) =
(22 × 52 × 23)/(11 × 5,623) =
2,300/61,853
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,300/61,853 =
2,300 ÷ 61,853 =
0.037184938483 ≈
0.04