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:
4,644 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 43 = 22 × 33 × 43
4,644 is a composite number.
123,766 = 2 × 19 × 3,257
123,766 is a composite number.
4,644/123,766 =
(4,644 ÷ 2) / (123,766 ÷ 2) =
2,322/61,883
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.
4,644/123,766 =
(22 × 33 × 43)/(2 × 19 × 3,257) =
((22 × 33 × 43) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 19 × 3,257) ÷ 2) =
(2 × 33 × 43)/(19 × 3,257) =
2,322/61,883
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,322/61,883 =
2,322 ÷ 61,883 =
0.037522421344 ≈
0.04