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:
53,851 = 7 × 7 × 7 × 157 = 73 × 157
53,851 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
350,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 = 24 × 55 × 7
350,000 is a composite number.
53,851/350,000 =
(53,851 ÷ 7) / (350,000 ÷ 7) =
7,693/50,000
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.
53,851/350,000 =
(73 × 157)/(24 × 55 × 7) =
((73 × 157) ÷ 7) / ((24 × 55 × 7) ÷ 7) =
(72 × 157)/(24 × 55) =
7,693/50,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7,693/50,000 =
7,693 ÷ 50,000 =
0.15386 ≈
0.15