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:
78 = 2 × 3 × 13
78 is a composite number.
500,000,046 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 13 × 409 × 2,239
500,000,046 is a composite number.
78/500,000,046 =
(78 ÷ 78) / (500,000,046 ÷ 78) =
1/6,410,257
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.
78/500,000,046 =
(2 × 3 × 13)/(2 × 3 × 7 × 13 × 409 × 2,239) =
((2 × 3 × 13) ÷ (2 × 3 × 13)) / ((2 × 3 × 7 × 13 × 409 × 2,239) ÷ (2 × 3 × 13)) =
1/(7 × 409 × 2,239) =
1/6,410,257
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1/6,410,257 =
1 ÷ 6,410,257 =
0.000000156 ≈
0