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:
70,844 = 2 × 2 × 89 × 199 = 22 × 89 × 199
70,844 is a composite number.
149,982 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 3,571
149,982 is a composite number.
70,844/149,982 =
(70,844 ÷ 2) / (149,982 ÷ 2) =
35,422/74,991
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.
70,844/149,982 =
(22 × 89 × 199)/(2 × 3 × 7 × 3,571) =
((22 × 89 × 199) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 3 × 7 × 3,571) ÷ 2) =
(2 × 89 × 199)/(3 × 7 × 3,571) =
35,422/74,991
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
35,422/74,991 =
35,422 ÷ 74,991 =
0.472350015335 ≈
0.47