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:
500,000,067 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 × 7 × 19 × 19,891 = 33 × 72 × 19 × 19,891
500,000,067 is a composite number.
49/500,000,067 =
(49 ÷ 49) / (500,000,067 ÷ 49) =
1/10,204,083
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.
49/500,000,067 =
72/(33 × 72 × 19 × 19,891) =
(72 ÷ 72) / ((33 × 72 × 19 × 19,891) ÷ 72) =
1/(33 × 19 × 19,891) =
1/10,204,083
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1/10,204,083 =
1 ÷ 10,204,083 =
0.000000098 ≈
0