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:
4,608 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 = 29 × 32
4,608 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.
4,608/123,744 =
(4,608 ÷ 96) / (123,744 ÷ 96) =
48/1,289
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.
4,608/123,744 =
(29 × 32)/(25 × 3 × 1,289) =
((29 × 32) ÷ (25 × 3)) / ((25 × 3 × 1,289) ÷ (25 × 3)) =
(24 × 3)/1,289 =
48/1,289
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
48/1,289 =
48 ÷ 1,289 =
0.037238169123 ≈
0.04