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:
4,617 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 19 = 35 × 19
4,617 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
5,892 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 491 = 22 × 3 × 491
5,892 is a composite number.
4,617/5,892 =
(4,617 ÷ 3) / (5,892 ÷ 3) =
1,539/1,964
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.
4,617/5,892 =
(35 × 19)/(22 × 3 × 491) =
((35 × 19) ÷ 3) / ((22 × 3 × 491) ÷ 3) =
(34 × 19)/(22 × 491) =
1,539/1,964
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,539/1,964 =
1,539 ÷ 1,964 =
0.783604887984 ≈
0.78