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:
9,532 = 2 × 2 × 2,383 = 22 × 2,383
9,532 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
17,504 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 547 = 25 × 547
17,504 is a composite number.
9,532/17,504 =
(9,532 ÷ 4) / (17,504 ÷ 4) =
2,383/4,376
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.
9,532/17,504 =
(22 × 2,383)/(25 × 547) =
((22 × 2,383) ÷ 22) / ((25 × 547) ÷ 22) =
2,383/(23 × 547) =
2,383/4,376
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
2,383/4,376 =
2,383 ÷ 4,376 =
0.544561243144 ≈
0.54