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:
8,488 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 1,061 = 23 × 1,061
8,488 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
19,800 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 11 = 23 × 32 × 52 × 11
19,800 is a composite number.
8,488/19,800 =
(8,488 ÷ 8) / (19,800 ÷ 8) =
1,061/2,475
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.
8,488/19,800 =
(23 × 1,061)/(23 × 32 × 52 × 11) =
((23 × 1,061) ÷ 23) / ((23 × 32 × 52 × 11) ÷ 23) =
1,061/(32 × 52 × 11) =
1,061/2,475
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,061/2,475 =
1,061 ÷ 2,475 =
0.428686868687 ≈
0.43