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:
86 = 2 × 43
86 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.
86/500,000,088 =
(86 ÷ 2) / (500,000,088 ÷ 2) =
43/250,000,044
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.
86/500,000,088 =
(2 × 43)/(23 × 3 × 7 × 467 × 6,373) =
((2 × 43) ÷ 2) / ((23 × 3 × 7 × 467 × 6,373) ÷ 2) =
43/(22 × 3 × 7 × 467 × 6,373) =
43/250,000,044
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
43/250,000,044 =
43 ÷ 250,000,044 =
0.000000172 ≈
0