Find Percent

'Percent' means 'out of 100'. 

If 90 per cent of the population owns a mobile phone, this means 90 out of every 100 people have one. 

The symbol '%' means per cent. 

Finding percentages

A percentage is a fraction of 100.

30% (30 in each 100) as a fraction is ³⁰/₁₀₀

30% as a decimal is 0.3.

Often, in real life - and maths exams - you must find a percentage of a quantity. 

First, write the percentage as a fraction or a decimal, then multiply by the quantity.

Have a look at this question:

Question

Find 40% of £50.

Answer

First, write 40% as a fraction: 40% = ⁴⁰/₁₀₀ = ⁴/₁₀ = ²/₅

Now multiply by the quantity:

²/₅ × 50 = £20.

To find the percent of two numbers just follow these steps:

1) First we need to convert the given numbers into decimal, for example 36 is what percent of 45? To solve this first divide 36 by 45(36/45), this will give us 0.8,

2) Convert the obtained decimal into percent. Here we need to convert 0.8 into percent, to do this multiply 0.8 with 100, this will give 80% which is the answer.

Hence 36 is 80% of 45. 

Find Percent of 2 Numbers                                     

Finding Percentage