Calculating Percentages

Do you remember what a percentage is? A percentage is a way in which you can express a fraction (or a part of a whole) in portions of 100. In word form, a percentage would look like this:

Part/Whole = Percent/100

Instead of using the word “percent” we use the symbol “%”.

Here is a quick refresher on how to find the percentage of any given number. If you were to go to the grocery store and a sign showed that a product is 25% off, you would need to know what the price is of the product that is being discounted by 25%. Let’s say the product is laundry detergent and it normally sells for $8.00. You now know you need to find out what is 25% of $8.00. To do this you must multiply the amount of $8.00 by the percent “25”. However if you multiply 8.00 x 25, you would get the answer: “200.00”. That certainly cannot be right. Remember that a percentage needs to be converted to a decimal point when you multiply. 25% = .25 as it is 25 of 100 (i.e., 25/100). So we need to multiply $8.00 x .25 which then equals $2.00. $8.00 - $2.00 = $6.00. You can buy the laundry detergent for $6.00.