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:
61,538,478 = 2 × 3 × 23 × 445,931
61,538,478 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
200,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 29 × 58
200,000,000 is a composite number.
61,538,478/200,000,000 =
(61,538,478 ÷ 2) / (200,000,000 ÷ 2) =
30,769,239/100,000,000
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.
61,538,478/200,000,000 =
(2 × 3 × 23 × 445,931)/(29 × 58) =
((2 × 3 × 23 × 445,931) ÷ 2) / ((29 × 58) ÷ 2) =
(3 × 23 × 445,931)/(28 × 58) =
30,769,239/100,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
30,769,239/100,000,000 =
30,769,239 ÷ 100,000,000 =
0.30769239 ≈
0.31