Ratio & Fraction Simplifier Calculator

Reducing 24:36 to its simplest form

24 and 36 simplify to a ratio of 2:3, the fraction 2/3, and a decimal of 0.6667 -- three ways of expressing the exact same relationship between the two numbers.

Simplifying a ratio means dividing both numbers by their greatest common divisor (GCD) -- for 24 and 36, the GCD is 12, so 24/12 = 2 and 36/12 = 3, giving the simplified 2:3. Any ratio equivalent to 24:36 (like 8:12, or 48:72) reduces to this same 2:3 form.

The decimal value (0.6667, or A/B) is a separate, third representation of the same relationship -- useful when you need a single number for a calculation rather than a ratio or fraction format, like scaling a recipe or checking a proportion against a threshold.

What happens with non-integer or negative inputs

Integers are floored. Sign follows A and B. Non-integer inputs are floored to the nearest whole number before simplifying, since a ratio between two numbers is conventionally expressed using whole numbers -- entering 24.7 would be treated as 24.

If either A or B is negative, the resulting ratio's sign follows the sign of the original inputs -- a negative-to-positive ratio stays meaningfully different from a positive-to-positive one, and the simplifier preserves that sign relationship rather than always returning a positive result.

This is the same underlying math as finding the greatest common divisor of two numbers -- simplifying a ratio and finding a GCD are two views of the identical calculation, just applied to a different practical question.

Related number-theory tools

For the GCD and LCM calculations directly, rather than a simplified ratio, the GCD & LCM Calculator reports both explicitly.

For controlling how many significant figures a resulting decimal (like 0.6667) should be rounded to, the Significant Figures & Rounding Calculator is a related tool.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)