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:
81 = 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 = 34
81 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
500,000,088 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 7 × 467 × 6,373 = 23 × 3 × 7 × 467 × 6,373
500,000,088 is a composite number.
81/500,000,088 =
(81 ÷ 3) / (500,000,088 ÷ 3) =
27/166,666,696
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.
81/500,000,088 =
34/(23 × 3 × 7 × 467 × 6,373) =
(34 ÷ 3) / ((23 × 3 × 7 × 467 × 6,373) ÷ 3) =
33/(23 × 7 × 467 × 6,373) =
27/166,666,696
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
27/166,666,696 =
27 ÷ 166,666,696 =
0.000000162 ≈
0