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:
63 = 3 × 3 × 7 = 32 × 7
63 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,052 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 41,666,671 = 22 × 3 × 41,666,671
500,000,052 is a composite number.
63/500,000,052 =
(63 ÷ 3) / (500,000,052 ÷ 3) =
21/166,666,684
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.
63/500,000,052 =
(32 × 7)/(22 × 3 × 41,666,671) =
((32 × 7) ÷ 3) / ((22 × 3 × 41,666,671) ÷ 3) =
(3 × 7)/(22 × 41,666,671) =
21/166,666,684
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
21/166,666,684 =
21 ÷ 166,666,684 =
0.000000126 ≈
0