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:
5,200,029 = 3 × 3 × 577,781 = 32 × 577,781
5,200,029 is a composite number.
6,000,006 = 2 × 3 × 101 × 9,901
6,000,006 is a composite number.
5,200,029/6,000,006 =
(5,200,029 ÷ 3) / (6,000,006 ÷ 3) =
1,733,343/2,000,002
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.
5,200,029/6,000,006 =
(32 × 577,781)/(2 × 3 × 101 × 9,901) =
((32 × 577,781) ÷ 3) / ((2 × 3 × 101 × 9,901) ÷ 3) =
(3 × 577,781)/(2 × 101 × 9,901) =
1,733,343/2,000,002
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,733,343/2,000,002 =
1,733,343 ÷ 2,000,002 =
0.866670633329 ≈
0.87