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:
4,948 = 2 × 2 × 1,237 = 22 × 1,237
4,948 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
23,320 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 11 × 53 = 23 × 5 × 11 × 53
23,320 is a composite number.
4,948/23,320 =
(4,948 ÷ 4) / (23,320 ÷ 4) =
1,237/5,830
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.
4,948/23,320 =
(22 × 1,237)/(23 × 5 × 11 × 53) =
((22 × 1,237) ÷ 22) / ((23 × 5 × 11 × 53) ÷ 22) =
1,237/(2 × 5 × 11 × 53) =
1,237/5,830
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,237/5,830 =
1,237 ÷ 5,830 =
0.21217838765 ≈
0.21