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:
4,655 = 5 × 7 × 7 × 19 = 5 × 72 × 19
4,655 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
123,788 = 2 × 2 × 7 × 4,421 = 22 × 7 × 4,421
123,788 is a composite number.
4,655/123,788 =
(4,655 ÷ 7) / (123,788 ÷ 7) =
665/17,684
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.
4,655/123,788 =
(5 × 72 × 19)/(22 × 7 × 4,421) =
((5 × 72 × 19) ÷ 7) / ((22 × 7 × 4,421) ÷ 7) =
(5 × 7 × 19)/(22 × 4,421) =
665/17,684
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
665/17,684 =
665 ÷ 17,684 =
0.037604614341 ≈
0.04