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Simplify ratios to lowest terms
Reduce any ratio to its simplest form. Works with 2+ part ratios and handles decimal ratios automatically.
Separate parts with colons (:)
Enter a ratio to simplify
If the ratio has decimals, multiply all parts by the same power of 10 to get whole numbers.
Find the Greatest Common Divisor (GCD) of all the numbers in the ratio.
Divide each part of the ratio by the GCD to get the simplest form.
Simplifying a ratio means reducing it to its lowest terms, just like simplifying a fraction. The simplified ratio shows the same relationship using the smallest possible whole numbers.
First, multiply all parts by the same power of 10 to eliminate decimals. For example, 2.5:5 becomes 25:50 when multiplied by 10. Then find the GCD (25) and divide: 25÷25:50÷25 = 1:2.
Yes! Find the GCD of all numbers in the ratio and divide each by that GCD. For example, 15:20:25 has GCD 5, so it simplifies to 3:4:5.
If the GCD of all parts is 1, the ratio is already in simplest form. For example, 3:5 cannot be simplified further because 3 and 5 share no common factors except 1.
Simplified ratios are easier to understand and work with. They make it clearer to see the relationship between quantities. For example, 15:25 is less intuitive than its simplified form 3:5.
The process is identical! Both use the GCD to reduce to lowest terms. A ratio a:b is essentially the same as the fraction a/b, so the simplification method is the same.
Traditionally, simplified ratios use whole numbers. If you get fractional parts, multiply all parts by a common factor to make them whole. For example, 0.5:1 becomes 1:2.
The GCD method finds the Greatest Common Divisor of all ratio parts, then divides each part by this number. It's the most efficient way to simplify any ratio to its lowest terms.