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:
500,022 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 27,779 = 2 × 32 × 27,779
500,022 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,085 = 3 × 3 × 5 × 11,113 = 32 × 5 × 11,113
500,085 is a composite number.
500,022/500,085 =
(500,022 ÷ 9) / (500,085 ÷ 9) =
55,558/55,565
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.
500,022/500,085 =
(2 × 32 × 27,779)/(32 × 5 × 11,113) =
((2 × 32 × 27,779) ÷ 32) / ((32 × 5 × 11,113) ÷ 32) =
(2 × 27,779)/(5 × 11,113) =
55,558/55,565
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
55,558/55,565 =
55,558 ÷ 55,565 =
0.999874021416 ≈
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