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:
48,524 = 2 × 2 × 7 × 1,733 = 22 × 7 × 1,733
48,524 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
70,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 = 24 × 54 × 7
70,000 is a composite number.
48,524/70,000 =
(48,524 ÷ 28) / (70,000 ÷ 28) =
1,733/2,500
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.
48,524/70,000 =
(22 × 7 × 1,733)/(24 × 54 × 7) =
((22 × 7 × 1,733) ÷ (22 × 7)) / ((24 × 54 × 7) ÷ (22 × 7)) =
1,733/(22 × 54) =
1,733/2,500
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,733/2,500 =
1,733 ÷ 2,500 =
0.6932 ≈
0.69