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:
8 = 2 × 2 × 2 = 23
8 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
4,000,000,048 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121 = 24 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121
4,000,000,048 is a composite number.
8/4,000,000,048 =
(8 ÷ 8) / (4,000,000,048 ÷ 8) =
1/500,000,006
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.
8/4,000,000,048 =
23/(24 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121) =
(23 ÷ 23) / ((24 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121) ÷ 23) =
1/(2 × 11 × 47 × 79 × 6,121) =
1/500,000,006
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1/500,000,006 =
1 ÷ 500,000,006 =
0.000000002 ≈
0