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:
9,500 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 19 = 22 × 53 × 19
9,500 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
17,484 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 31 × 47 = 22 × 3 × 31 × 47
17,484 is a composite number.
9,500/17,484 =
(9,500 ÷ 4) / (17,484 ÷ 4) =
2,375/4,371
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.
9,500/17,484 =
(22 × 53 × 19)/(22 × 3 × 31 × 47) =
((22 × 53 × 19) ÷ 22) / ((22 × 3 × 31 × 47) ÷ 22) =
(53 × 19)/(3 × 31 × 47) =
2,375/4,371
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,375/4,371 =
2,375 ÷ 4,371 =
0.543353923587 ≈
0.54