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:
96 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 = 25 × 3
96 is a composite number.
500,000,082 = 2 × 3 × 23 × 193 × 18,773
500,000,082 is a composite number.
96/500,000,082 =
(96 ÷ 6) / (500,000,082 ÷ 6) =
16/83,333,347
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.
96/500,000,082 =
(25 × 3)/(2 × 3 × 23 × 193 × 18,773) =
((25 × 3) ÷ (2 × 3)) / ((2 × 3 × 23 × 193 × 18,773) ÷ (2 × 3)) =
24/(23 × 193 × 18,773) =
16/83,333,347
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
16/83,333,347 =
16 ÷ 83,333,347 =
0.000000192 ≈
0