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:
53,457 = 3 × 103 × 173
53,457 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
299,997 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 41 × 271 = 33 × 41 × 271
299,997 is a composite number.
53,457/299,997 =
(53,457 ÷ 3) / (299,997 ÷ 3) =
17,819/99,999
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.
53,457/299,997 =
(3 × 103 × 173)/(33 × 41 × 271) =
((3 × 103 × 173) ÷ 3) / ((33 × 41 × 271) ÷ 3) =
(103 × 173)/(32 × 41 × 271) =
17,819/99,999
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
17,819/99,999 =
17,819 ÷ 99,999 =
0.178191781918 ≈
0.18