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:
9,513 = 3 × 3 × 7 × 151 = 32 × 7 × 151
9,513 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
17,500 = 2 × 2 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 5 × 7 = 22 × 54 × 7
17,500 is a composite number.
9,513/17,500 =
(9,513 ÷ 7) / (17,500 ÷ 7) =
1,359/2,500
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.
9,513/17,500 =
(32 × 7 × 151)/(22 × 54 × 7) =
((32 × 7 × 151) ÷ 7) / ((22 × 54 × 7) ÷ 7) =
(32 × 151)/(22 × 54) =
1,359/2,500
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
1,359/2,500 =
1,359 ÷ 2,500 =
0.5436 ≈
0.54