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:
625,056 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 17 × 383 = 25 × 3 × 17 × 383
625,056 is a composite number.
3,999,981 = 3 × 17 × 107 × 733
3,999,981 is a composite number.
625,056/3,999,981 =
(625,056 ÷ 51) / (3,999,981 ÷ 51) =
12,256/78,431
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.
625,056/3,999,981 =
(25 × 3 × 17 × 383)/(3 × 17 × 107 × 733) =
((25 × 3 × 17 × 383) ÷ (3 × 17)) / ((3 × 17 × 107 × 733) ÷ (3 × 17)) =
(25 × 383)/(107 × 733) =
12,256/78,431
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
12,256/78,431 =
12,256 ÷ 78,431 =
0.156264742258 ≈
0.16