diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 320c3fdce..1675d0883 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -353,6 +353,9 @@
     <contributor>
       <name>Xiaogang Zhang</name>
     </contributor>
+    <contributor>
+      <name>Chris Popp</name>
+    </contributor>
   </contributors>
 
   <dependencies>
diff --git a/src/changes/changes.xml b/src/changes/changes.xml
index b6baf47b7..bbb67e7a6 100644
--- a/src/changes/changes.xml
+++ b/src/changes/changes.xml
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ If the output is not quite correct, check for invisible trailing spaces!
     </release>
 
     <release version="4.0" date="XXXX-XX-XX" description="">
+      <action dev="erans" type="fix" issue="MATH-1248" due-to="Chris Popp">
+        Removed unnecessary allocations in "BigFraction" (package "o.a.c.m.fraction").
+      </action>
       <action dev="psteitz" type="fix" issue="MATH-1245">
         Fixed error in computing discrete distribution of D statistics for small-sample
         2-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Error was causing incorrect p-values returned 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math4/fraction/BigFraction.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math4/fraction/BigFraction.java
index 078682d5a..1be1eeac3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math4/fraction/BigFraction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/math4/fraction/BigFraction.java
@@ -119,10 +119,10 @@ public class BigFraction
     public BigFraction(BigInteger num, BigInteger den) {
         MathUtils.checkNotNull(num, LocalizedFormats.NUMERATOR);
         MathUtils.checkNotNull(den, LocalizedFormats.DENOMINATOR);
-        if (BigInteger.ZERO.equals(den)) {
+        if (den.signum() == 0) {
             throw new ZeroException(LocalizedFormats.ZERO_DENOMINATOR);
         }
-        if (BigInteger.ZERO.equals(num)) {
+        if (num.signum() == 0) {
             numerator   = BigInteger.ZERO;
             denominator = BigInteger.ONE;
         } else {
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public class BigFraction
             }
 
             // move sign to numerator
-            if (BigInteger.ZERO.compareTo(den) > 0) {
+            if (den.signum() == -1) {
                 num = num.negate();
                 den = den.negate();
             }
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ public class BigFraction
      * @return the absolute value as a {@link BigFraction}.
      */
     public BigFraction abs() {
-        return (BigInteger.ZERO.compareTo(numerator) <= 0) ? this : negate();
+        return (numerator.signum() == 1) ? this : negate();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -467,6 +467,14 @@ public class BigFraction
      */
     public BigFraction add(final BigInteger bg) throws NullArgumentException {
         MathUtils.checkNotNull(bg);
+
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return new BigFraction(bg);
+        }
+        if (bg.signum() == 0) {
+            return this;
+        }
+
         return new BigFraction(numerator.add(denominator.multiply(bg)), denominator);
     }
 
@@ -514,9 +522,12 @@ public class BigFraction
         if (fraction == null) {
             throw new NullArgumentException(LocalizedFormats.FRACTION);
         }
-        if (ZERO.equals(fraction)) {
+        if (fraction.numerator.signum() == 0) {
             return this;
         }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return fraction;
+        }
 
         BigInteger num = null;
         BigInteger den = null;
@@ -528,6 +539,11 @@ public class BigFraction
             num = (numerator.multiply(fraction.denominator)).add((fraction.numerator).multiply(denominator));
             den = denominator.multiply(fraction.denominator);
         }
+
+        if (num.signum() == 0) {
+            return ZERO;
+        }
+
         return new BigFraction(num, den);
 
     }
@@ -599,6 +615,16 @@ public class BigFraction
      */
     @Override
     public int compareTo(final BigFraction object) {
+        int lhsSigNum = numerator.signum();
+        int rhsSigNum = object.numerator.signum();
+
+        if (lhsSigNum != rhsSigNum) {
+            return (lhsSigNum > rhsSigNum) ? 1 : -1;
+        }
+        if (lhsSigNum == 0) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
         BigInteger nOd = numerator.multiply(object.denominator);
         BigInteger dOn = denominator.multiply(object.numerator);
         return nOd.compareTo(dOn);
@@ -619,9 +645,12 @@ public class BigFraction
         if (bg == null) {
             throw new NullArgumentException(LocalizedFormats.FRACTION);
         }
-        if (BigInteger.ZERO.equals(bg)) {
+        if (bg.signum() == 0) {
             throw new MathArithmeticException(LocalizedFormats.ZERO_DENOMINATOR);
         }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return ZERO;
+        }
         return new BigFraction(numerator, denominator.multiply(bg));
     }
 
@@ -669,9 +698,12 @@ public class BigFraction
         if (fraction == null) {
             throw new NullArgumentException(LocalizedFormats.FRACTION);
         }
-        if (BigInteger.ZERO.equals(fraction.numerator)) {
+        if (fraction.numerator.signum() == 0) {
             throw new MathArithmeticException(LocalizedFormats.ZERO_DENOMINATOR);
         }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return ZERO;
+        }
 
         return multiply(fraction.reciprocal());
     }
@@ -873,6 +905,9 @@ public class BigFraction
         if (bg == null) {
             throw new NullArgumentException();
         }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0 || bg.signum() == 0) {
+            return ZERO;
+        }
         return new BigFraction(bg.multiply(numerator), denominator);
     }
 
@@ -888,6 +923,10 @@ public class BigFraction
      */
     @Override
     public BigFraction multiply(final int i) {
+        if (i == 0 || numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return ZERO;
+        }
+
         return multiply(BigInteger.valueOf(i));
     }
 
@@ -902,6 +941,10 @@ public class BigFraction
      * @return a {@link BigFraction} instance with the resulting values.
      */
     public BigFraction multiply(final long l) {
+        if (l == 0 || numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return ZERO;
+        }
+
         return multiply(BigInteger.valueOf(l));
     }
 
@@ -920,8 +963,8 @@ public class BigFraction
         if (fraction == null) {
             throw new NullArgumentException(LocalizedFormats.FRACTION);
         }
-        if (numerator.equals(BigInteger.ZERO) ||
-            fraction.numerator.equals(BigInteger.ZERO)) {
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0 ||
+            fraction.numerator.signum() == 0) {
             return ZERO;
         }
         return new BigFraction(numerator.multiply(fraction.numerator),
@@ -965,6 +1008,13 @@ public class BigFraction
      * @return <tt>this<sup>exponent</sup></tt>.
      */
     public BigFraction pow(final int exponent) {
+        if (exponent == 0) {
+            return ONE;
+        }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return this;
+        }
+
         if (exponent < 0) {
             return new BigFraction(denominator.pow(-exponent), numerator.pow(-exponent));
         }
@@ -982,6 +1032,13 @@ public class BigFraction
      * @return <tt>this<sup>exponent</sup></tt> as a <code>BigFraction</code>.
      */
     public BigFraction pow(final long exponent) {
+        if (exponent == 0) {
+            return ONE;
+        }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return this;
+        }
+
         if (exponent < 0) {
             return new BigFraction(ArithmeticUtils.pow(denominator, -exponent),
                                    ArithmeticUtils.pow(numerator,   -exponent));
@@ -1001,7 +1058,14 @@ public class BigFraction
      * @return <tt>this<sup>exponent</sup></tt> as a <code>BigFraction</code>.
      */
     public BigFraction pow(final BigInteger exponent) {
-        if (exponent.compareTo(BigInteger.ZERO) < 0) {
+        if (exponent.signum() == 0) {
+            return ONE;
+        }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return this;
+        }
+
+        if (exponent.signum() == -1) {
             final BigInteger eNeg = exponent.negate();
             return new BigFraction(ArithmeticUtils.pow(denominator, eNeg),
                                    ArithmeticUtils.pow(numerator,   eNeg));
@@ -1047,7 +1111,12 @@ public class BigFraction
      */
     public BigFraction reduce() {
         final BigInteger gcd = numerator.gcd(denominator);
-        return new BigFraction(numerator.divide(gcd), denominator.divide(gcd));
+
+        if (BigInteger.ONE.compareTo(gcd) < 0) {
+            return new BigFraction(numerator.divide(gcd), denominator.divide(gcd));
+        } else {
+            return this;
+        }
     }
 
     /**
@@ -1064,6 +1133,13 @@ public class BigFraction
         if (bg == null) {
             throw new NullArgumentException();
         }
+        if (bg.signum() == 0) {
+            return this;
+        }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return new BigFraction(bg.negate());
+        }
+
         return new BigFraction(numerator.subtract(denominator.multiply(bg)), denominator);
     }
 
@@ -1108,9 +1184,12 @@ public class BigFraction
         if (fraction == null) {
             throw new NullArgumentException(LocalizedFormats.FRACTION);
         }
-        if (ZERO.equals(fraction)) {
+        if (fraction.numerator.signum() == 0) {
             return this;
         }
+        if (numerator.signum() == 0) {
+            return fraction.negate();
+        }
 
         BigInteger num = null;
         BigInteger den = null;