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3.2 A) Introduction
3.2 A) Introduction
Percent means per 100 and we represent percentages with the symbol %. They are used very frequently in everyday life. For example, after you have completed a test, you are often given your mark as a percentage and this tells you the proportion of the test that you got right. We often see them when we are looking on Amazon for goods or shopping on sites that have a sale. Amazon often tells you what percentage you saved by buying the item from them compared with purchasing the item at the RRP (recommended retail price). Another example of where percentages are used is the battery percentage on one’s phone.
100% represents the whole of something. If we are given 100% (or a whole) of something, we are easily able to find a certain percentage. We find the percentage of something by dividing by 100 and multiplying by the percent that we want to find.
100% represents the whole of something. If we are given 100% (or a whole) of something, we are easily able to find a certain percentage. We find the percentage of something by dividing by 100 and multiplying by the percent that we want to find.
Example 1
What is 40% of 300?
300 represents 100%. We are asked in the question to find what 40% of 100 is. We can do this by dividing 300 by 100 to obtain the value for 1%. When we do this, we see that 1% of 300 is 3.
What is 40% of 300?
300 represents 100%. We are asked in the question to find what 40% of 100 is. We can do this by dividing 300 by 100 to obtain the value for 1%. When we do this, we see that 1% of 300 is 3.
The question asks us to find 40%, not 1%. We can find 40%, by multiplying the value of 1% by 40.
Therefore, 40% of 300 is 120.
Note: we will be looking at other methods of finding the percentages of certain values later.
Note: we will be looking at other methods of finding the percentages of certain values later.
Example 2
Let’s have another example that is slightly more complex. What is 38% of 88662? You are able to use a calculator for this question.
88662 represents 100% and we are asked to find what 38% of 88662 is. We are going to find this by dividing 88662 by 100 to find the value of 1%.
Let’s have another example that is slightly more complex. What is 38% of 88662? You are able to use a calculator for this question.
88662 represents 100% and we are asked to find what 38% of 88662 is. We are going to find this by dividing 88662 by 100 to find the value of 1%.
We now multiply what 1% is by 38 because we want to find what 38% is.
Therefore, we can see that 38% of 88662 is 22691.56.
There is a quicker way to find this value of the calculator. We are able to do this by using the fraction button on the calculator and inserting 38 as the numerator and 100 as the denominator. We then multiply this fraction by the amount that we are finding the percentage of, which in this case is 88662. There is a picture below of what the calculator screen should look like.
There is a quicker way to find this value of the calculator. We are able to do this by using the fraction button on the calculator and inserting 38 as the numerator and 100 as the denominator. We then multiply this fraction by the amount that we are finding the percentage of, which in this case is 88662. There is a picture below of what the calculator screen should look like.
