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:
70,839 = 3 × 3 × 17 × 463 = 32 × 17 × 463
70,839 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
150,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 24 × 3 × 55
150,000 is a composite number.
70,839/150,000 =
(70,839 ÷ 3) / (150,000 ÷ 3) =
23,613/50,000
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.
70,839/150,000 =
(32 × 17 × 463)/(24 × 3 × 55) =
((32 × 17 × 463) ÷ 3) / ((24 × 3 × 55) ÷ 3) =
(3 × 17 × 463)/(24 × 55) =
23,613/50,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
23,613/50,000 =
23,613 ÷ 50,000 =
0.47226 ≈
0.47