Question 324844
The best way to answer this question is with an example, I will use what you have given.  Let's say you have 50 apples. If you made a pie graph, it would represent the total amount of apples.  When you add the different slices of the graph together, they will equal 100%, which is the same as 50 apples. 100%=50 apples
Now, let's answer the question: how many apples does 12% represent?
First, you need to know how to write a percent in decimal form.  To do this, you just divide the percent number by 100.  So:
12% = 12/100 = 0.12
Next, we want to know how many apples does 12% represent, or what is 12% of our 50 apples?
To do this, multiply the percent amount you want to find by the total number of apples:
0.12*50
=6
So 12% of 50 apples is 6 apples.  This is your answer.
So the formula is:
(% of total objects you want to find)*(total number of objects)