How do you form the lowest form fraction?

Answer 1

Find a number that both the top and bottom number of the fraction are evenly divisible by, and divide both by that number.

For example, if you want to find the lowest form of 12/18, you might notice that both 12 and 18 are evenly divisible by 2. 12 divided by 2 is 6, and 18 divided by 2 is 9 so you have reduced 12/18 to 6/9.

However, you can reduce this further, because both 6 and 9 are divisible by 3. 6 divided by 3 is 2, and 9 divided by 3 is 3. Now you have reduced the fraction down to 2/3.

You can't divide both 2 and 3 by anything and come up with a whole number, so 2/3 is as low as you can go.

12/18 = 6/9 = 2/3

In this exercise you've divided both the top and the bottom number of the fraction by the same number each time, so the fraction still has the same value each time