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:
9,777,778 = 2 × 4,888,889
9,777,778 is a composite number.
Written with exponents:
79,999,996 = 2 × 2 × 19,999,999 = 22 × 19,999,999
79,999,996 is a composite number.
9,777,778/79,999,996 =
(9,777,778 ÷ 2) / (79,999,996 ÷ 2) =
4,888,889/39,999,998
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.
9,777,778/79,999,996 =
(2 × 4,888,889)/(22 × 19,999,999) =
((2 × 4,888,889) ÷ 2) / ((22 × 19,999,999) ÷ 2) =
4,888,889/(2 × 19,999,999) =
4,888,889/39,999,998
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
4,888,889/39,999,998 =
4,888,889 ÷ 39,999,998 =
0.122222231111 ≈
0.12