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:
9,302 = 2 × 4,651
9,302 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
39,984 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 7 × 7 × 17 = 24 × 3 × 72 × 17
39,984 is a composite number.
9,302/39,984 =
(9,302 ÷ 2) / (39,984 ÷ 2) =
4,651/19,992
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.
9,302/39,984 =
(2 × 4,651)/(24 × 3 × 72 × 17) =
((2 × 4,651) ÷ 2) / ((24 × 3 × 72 × 17) ÷ 2) =
4,651/(23 × 3 × 72 × 17) =
4,651/19,992
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,651/19,992 =
4,651 ÷ 19,992 =
0.232643057223 ≈
0.23