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:
76 = 2 × 2 × 19 = 22 × 19
76 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,096 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 67 × 101 × 2,309 = 25 × 67 × 101 × 2,309
500,000,096 is a composite number.
76/500,000,096 =
(76 ÷ 4) / (500,000,096 ÷ 4) =
19/125,000,024
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.
76/500,000,096 =
(22 × 19)/(25 × 67 × 101 × 2,309) =
((22 × 19) ÷ 22) / ((25 × 67 × 101 × 2,309) ÷ 22) =
19/(23 × 67 × 101 × 2,309) =
19/125,000,024
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
19/125,000,024 =
19 ÷ 125,000,024 =
0.000000152 ≈
0