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:
7,406,695 = 5 × 1,481,339
7,406,695 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
44,440,025 = 5 × 5 × 7 × 23 × 61 × 181 = 52 × 7 × 23 × 61 × 181
44,440,025 is a composite number.
7,406,695/44,440,025 =
(7,406,695 ÷ 5) / (44,440,025 ÷ 5) =
1,481,339/8,888,005
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.
7,406,695/44,440,025 =
(5 × 1,481,339)/(52 × 7 × 23 × 61 × 181) =
((5 × 1,481,339) ÷ 5) / ((52 × 7 × 23 × 61 × 181) ÷ 5) =
1,481,339/(5 × 7 × 23 × 61 × 181) =
1,481,339/8,888,005
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,481,339/8,888,005 =
1,481,339 ÷ 8,888,005 =
0.166667210471 ≈
0.17