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:
556 = 2 × 2 × 139 = 22 × 139
556 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
30,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 27 × 3 × 57
30,000,000 is a composite number.
556/30,000,000 =
(556 ÷ 4) / (30,000,000 ÷ 4) =
139/7,500,000
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.
556/30,000,000 =
(22 × 139)/(27 × 3 × 57) =
((22 × 139) ÷ 22) / ((27 × 3 × 57) ÷ 22) =
139/(25 × 3 × 57) =
139/7,500,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
139/7,500,000 =
139 ÷ 7,500,000 =
0.000018533333 ≈
0