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:
54 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 = 2 × 33
54 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
4,000,000,041 = 3 × 3 × 709 × 626,861 = 32 × 709 × 626,861
4,000,000,041 is a composite number.
54/4,000,000,041 =
(54 ÷ 9) / (4,000,000,041 ÷ 9) =
6/444,444,449
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.
54/4,000,000,041 =
(2 × 33)/(32 × 709 × 626,861) =
((2 × 33) ÷ 32) / ((32 × 709 × 626,861) ÷ 32) =
(2 × 3)/(709 × 626,861) =
6/444,444,449
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
6/444,444,449 =
6 ÷ 444,444,449 =
0.0000000135 ≈
0