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:
571,438 = 2 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 7 × 17 = 2 × 75 × 17
571,438 is a composite number.
4,000,006 = 2 × 2,000,003
4,000,006 is a composite number.
571,438/4,000,006 =
(571,438 ÷ 2) / (4,000,006 ÷ 2) =
285,719/2,000,003
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.
571,438/4,000,006 =
(2 × 75 × 17)/(2 × 2,000,003) =
((2 × 75 × 17) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 2,000,003) ÷ 2) =
(75 × 17)/2,000,003 =
285,719/2,000,003
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
285,719/2,000,003 =
285,719 ÷ 2,000,003 =
0.142859285711 ≈
0.14