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:
562 = 2 × 281
562 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
30,000,006 = 2 × 3 × 3 × 47 × 35,461 = 2 × 32 × 47 × 35,461
30,000,006 is a composite number.
562/30,000,006 =
(562 ÷ 2) / (30,000,006 ÷ 2) =
281/15,000,003
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.
562/30,000,006 =
(2 × 281)/(2 × 32 × 47 × 35,461) =
((2 × 281) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 32 × 47 × 35,461) ÷ 2) =
281/(32 × 47 × 35,461) =
281/15,000,003
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
281/15,000,003 =
281 ÷ 15,000,003 =
0.00001873333 ≈
0