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:
625,064 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 11 × 7,103 = 23 × 11 × 7,103
625,064 is a composite number.
3,999,986 = 2 × 1,999,993
3,999,986 is a composite number.
625,064/3,999,986 =
(625,064 ÷ 2) / (3,999,986 ÷ 2) =
312,532/1,999,993
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.
625,064/3,999,986 =
(23 × 11 × 7,103)/(2 × 1,999,993) =
((23 × 11 × 7,103) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 1,999,993) ÷ 2) =
(22 × 11 × 7,103)/1,999,993 =
312,532/1,999,993
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
312,532/1,999,993 =
312,532 ÷ 1,999,993 =
0.156266546933 ≈
0.16