How do you turn a fraction into its simplest form?

Answer 1

You find the greatest common factor of the numerator and the denominator and then divide each of them by this GCF. Dividing both numbers by the same factor yields an equivalent fraction.

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Any fraction can be written in many different ways.

For example, 1/2 of a cake is the same amount of cake as 4/8ths, or 8/16ths. 3/4 of 100 dollars is the same as 75/100ths of 100 dollars.

We say that 1/2, and 4/8 and 8/16 are equivalent fractions. 3/4 and 75/100 are equivalent too.

If you take any fraction and multiply both the top number and the bottom number by the same amount, the fraction means the same as before. It doesn't matter what that amount is, as long as it's the same.

This also means that you can divide the top and bottom numbers by the same amount too. 12/18 = 6/9. We divided the top and bottom numbers by 2. But we can divide by 3 as well. 6/9 = 2/3. This is the simplest form we can write the fraction in.

So to turn a fraction into its simplest form, you go on dividing the top and bottom numbers by whatever whole number you can until you can't divide any more.

90/150 = 9/15 (dividing by 10)

9/15 = 3/5 (dividing by 3)

So 90/150 in its simplest form is 3/5