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:
486 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 = 2 × 35
486 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
7,000,012 = 2 × 2 × 41 × 42,683 = 22 × 41 × 42,683
7,000,012 is a composite number.
486/7,000,012 =
(486 ÷ 2) / (7,000,012 ÷ 2) =
243/3,500,006
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.
486/7,000,012 =
(2 × 35)/(22 × 41 × 42,683) =
((2 × 35) ÷ 2) / ((22 × 41 × 42,683) ÷ 2) =
35/(2 × 41 × 42,683) =
243/3,500,006
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
243/3,500,006 =
243 ÷ 3,500,006 =
0.000069428452 ≈
0