Q. Find a common factor of the numerator and denominator?

Ans.

There's only one key step to simplifying (or reducing) fractions: find a common factor of the numerator and denominator. For example, in this fraction,

think about the factors of 6 and 8:

They have a common factor, 2. So you divide both the 6 and the 8 by 2, and you get:

That's called reducing the fraction from 6/8 to ?. (You can say that you have cancelled the 2.)

By the way, keep in mind that 6/8 and ? are equal! They are the same number, just as "Octopus" and "Octopus" are the same word even though they've been written differently.

Sometimes, even after you reduce a fraction, it might not be reduced all the way. For example, if you notice that 5 is a common factor of 15 and 60, you can write:

But you're not done, because 3 and 12 still have a common factor (namely, 3). So, you should continue, dividing both 3 and 12 by 3:

= 1/4

Here are some more examples of reduced fractions: