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:
564 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 47 = 22 × 3 × 47
564 is a composite number.
29,999,982 = 2 × 3 × 43 × 116,279
29,999,982 is a composite number.
564/29,999,982 =
(564 ÷ 6) / (29,999,982 ÷ 6) =
94/4,999,997
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.
564/29,999,982 =
(22 × 3 × 47)/(2 × 3 × 43 × 116,279) =
((22 × 3 × 47) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 3 × 43 × 116,279) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
(2 × 47)/(43 × 116,279) =
94/4,999,997
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
94/4,999,997 =
94 ÷ 4,999,997 =
0.000018800011 ≈
0