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This Lesson (BASICS of Percentages) was created by by longjonsilver(2297)
  About longjonsilver: I have a new job in September, teaching
Intro
Percentages are just fractions of 100. Instead of writing 1/2, a percentage would be 50/100, or "50 out of 100", or "50 per cent" or 50%. All these are equivalent ways of saying the same thing..."a half". The secret of percentages, is to think of them as fractions. There are 2 classic basic problems posed with percentages: 1. What is 10% of 230? 2. What percentage of 120 is 84? Both are very simple questions with very simple answers, so lets de-mystify them :-)... 1. What is 10% of 230? Think about this English version. We need the maths equivalent, so lets translate into maths... What is 10 per cent of 230? What is 10 out of 100 of 230? What is 10/100 * 230? Answer, using your head or a calculator...23. Straight-forward? 2. What percentage of 120 is 84? Initially, ask yourself instead "what fraction of 120 is 84"? Answer to this is usually simpler to visualise....84/120. How to get from ANY fraction to the equivalent percentage? Well, think of some easy examples: 3/4 is 75% 1/2 is 50% 1/4 is 25% 1/10 is 10% all I did was multiply the fraction by 100, to give the percentage. So, our fraction (84/120) becomes (84/120)*100 = 70%. This lesson has been accessed 38019 times. |
