What is 22 over 48 in simplest form?

Answer 1

22 over 48, or 22/48, can be put into its simplest form by first noting that both of the numbers 22 and 48 are even. This means each number can be divided by two into a whole (non-decimal) number. 22 divided by 2 is 11, and 48 divided by 2 is 24. This makes the simplest form 11/24.

The simplest form of a fraction is obtained when either the denominator (bottom) or numerator (top) is a Prime number, and the other number is NOT a multiple of that prime number. So 22/44 can be simplified into 11/22, and 11 is a prime number. However, 22 = 2 times 11, so 11/22 is NOT the simplest form. The simplest form in this case is obtained when we divide 11 by 11 and 22 by 11, yielding 1/2.

Finding the simplest form of a fraction takes practice; there is no all-encompassing method that will guide you to the correct answer. For example, it is hard to tell by looking at it that the fraction 243/639 is in its simplest form. It turns out that it is not, its simplest form will be 27/71. If you work with numbers long enough, you will find little trouble in figuring these out.