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:
98 = 2 × 7 × 7 = 2 × 72
98 is a composite number.
12,345,678,961 = 7 × 11 × 41 × 3,910,573
12,345,678,961 is a composite number.
98/12,345,678,961 =
(98 ÷ 7) / (12,345,678,961 ÷ 7) =
14/1,763,668,423
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.
98/12,345,678,961 =
(2 × 72)/(7 × 11 × 41 × 3,910,573) =
((2 × 72) ÷ 7) / ((7 × 11 × 41 × 3,910,573) ÷ 7) =
(2 × 7)/(11 × 41 × 3,910,573) =
14/1,763,668,423
As a decimal number:
Simply divide the numerator by the denominator, without a remainder, as shown below:
14/1,763,668,423 =
14 ÷ 1,763,668,423 =
0.000000007938 ≈
0