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:
71,794,874 = 2 × 37 × 970,201
71,794,874 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 28 × 59
500,000,000 is a composite number.
71,794,874/500,000,000 =
(71,794,874 ÷ 2) / (500,000,000 ÷ 2) =
35,897,437/250,000,000
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.
71,794,874/500,000,000 =
(2 × 37 × 970,201)/(28 × 59) =
((2 × 37 × 970,201) ÷ 2) / ((28 × 59) ÷ 2) =
(37 × 970,201)/(27 × 59) =
35,897,437/250,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
35,897,437/250,000,000 =
35,897,437 ÷ 250,000,000 =
0.143589748 ≈
0.14