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:
72 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 = 23 × 32
72 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,064 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 2,604,167 = 26 × 3 × 2,604,167
500,000,064 is a composite number.
72/500,000,064 =
(72 ÷ 24) / (500,000,064 ÷ 24) =
3/20,833,336
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.
72/500,000,064 =
(23 × 32)/(26 × 3 × 2,604,167) =
((23 × 32) ÷ (23 × 3)) / ((26 × 3 × 2,604,167) ÷ (23 × 3)) =
3/(23 × 2,604,167) =
3/20,833,336
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3/20,833,336 =
3 ÷ 20,833,336 =
0.000000144 ≈
0