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:
4,606 = 2 × 7 × 7 × 47 = 2 × 72 × 47
4,606 is a composite number.
123,726 = 2 × 3 × 17 × 1,213
123,726 is a composite number.
4,606/123,726 =
(4,606 ÷ 2) / (123,726 ÷ 2) =
2,303/61,863
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.
4,606/123,726 =
(2 × 72 × 47)/(2 × 3 × 17 × 1,213) =
((2 × 72 × 47) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 3 × 17 × 1,213) ÷ 2) =
(72 × 47)/(3 × 17 × 1,213) =
2,303/61,863
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,303/61,863 =
2,303 ÷ 61,863 =
0.037227421884 ≈
0.04