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:
73,348 = 2 × 2 × 11 × 1,667 = 22 × 11 × 1,667
73,348 is a composite number.
1,980,006 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 47,143
1,980,006 is a composite number.
73,348/1,980,006 =
(73,348 ÷ 2) / (1,980,006 ÷ 2) =
36,674/990,003
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.
73,348/1,980,006 =
(22 × 11 × 1,667)/(2 × 3 × 7 × 47,143) =
((22 × 11 × 1,667) ÷ 2) / ((2 × 3 × 7 × 47,143) ÷ 2) =
(2 × 11 × 1,667)/(3 × 7 × 47,143) =
36,674/990,003
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
36,674/990,003 =
36,674 ÷ 990,003 =
0.037044332189 ≈
0.04