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:
56 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 7 = 23 × 7
56 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,072 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 11 × 11 × 13 × 39,733 = 23 × 112 × 13 × 39,733
500,000,072 is a composite number.
56/500,000,072 =
(56 ÷ 8) / (500,000,072 ÷ 8) =
7/62,500,009
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.
56/500,000,072 =
(23 × 7)/(23 × 112 × 13 × 39,733) =
((23 × 7) ÷ 23) / ((23 × 112 × 13 × 39,733) ÷ 23) =
7/(112 × 13 × 39,733) =
7/62,500,009
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
7/62,500,009 =
7 ÷ 62,500,009 =
0.000000112 ≈
0