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:
64 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 26
64 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
4,000,000,040 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 17 × 5,882,353 = 23 × 5 × 17 × 5,882,353
4,000,000,040 is a composite number.
64/4,000,000,040 =
(64 ÷ 8) / (4,000,000,040 ÷ 8) =
8/500,000,005
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.
64/4,000,000,040 =
26/(23 × 5 × 17 × 5,882,353) =
(26 ÷ 23) / ((23 × 5 × 17 × 5,882,353) ÷ 23) =
23/(5 × 17 × 5,882,353) =
8/500,000,005
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
8/500,000,005 =
8 ÷ 500,000,005 =
0.000000016 ≈
0