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:
49 = 7 × 7 = 72
49 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,032 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 × 251 × 8,893 = 25 × 7 × 251 × 8,893
500,000,032 is a composite number.
49/500,000,032 =
(49 ÷ 7) / (500,000,032 ÷ 7) =
7/71,428,576
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.
49/500,000,032 =
72/(25 × 7 × 251 × 8,893) =
(72 ÷ 7) / ((25 × 7 × 251 × 8,893) ÷ 7) =
7/(25 × 251 × 8,893) =
7/71,428,576
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7/71,428,576 =
7 ÷ 71,428,576 =
0.000000098 ≈
0