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:
9,230,781 = 3 × 7 × 41 × 71 × 151
9,230,781 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
30,000,000 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 = 27 × 3 × 57
30,000,000 is a composite number.
9,230,781/30,000,000 =
(9,230,781 ÷ 3) / (30,000,000 ÷ 3) =
3,076,927/10,000,000
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.
9,230,781/30,000,000 =
(3 × 7 × 41 × 71 × 151)/(27 × 3 × 57) =
((3 × 7 × 41 × 71 × 151) ÷ 3) / ((27 × 3 × 57) ÷ 3) =
(7 × 41 × 71 × 151)/(27 × 57) =
3,076,927/10,000,000
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
3,076,927/10,000,000 =
3,076,927 ÷ 10,000,000 =
0.3076927 ≈
0.31