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:
488,176,355 = 5 × 97,635,271
488,176,355 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
625,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 26 × 510
625,000,000 is a composite number.
488,176,355/625,000,000 =
(488,176,355 ÷ 5) / (625,000,000 ÷ 5) =
97,635,271/125,000,000
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.
488,176,355/625,000,000 =
(5 × 97,635,271)/(26 × 510) =
((5 × 97,635,271) ÷ 5) / ((26 × 510) ÷ 5) =
97,635,271/(26 × 59) =
97,635,271/125,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
97,635,271/125,000,000 =
97,635,271 ÷ 125,000,000 =
0.781082168 ≈
0.78