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:
48 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 = 24 × 3
48 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
250,056 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 23 × 151 = 23 × 32 × 23 × 151
250,056 is a composite number.
48/250,056 =
(48 ÷ 24) / (250,056 ÷ 24) =
2/10,419
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.
48/250,056 =
(24 × 3)/(23 × 32 × 23 × 151) =
((24 × 3) ÷ (23 × 3)) / ((23 × 32 × 23 × 151) ÷ (23 × 3)) =
2/(3 × 23 × 151) =
2/10,419
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2/10,419 =
2 ÷ 10,419 =
0.000191957002 ≈
0