What are Percentages and How To Calculate Percentages?

We don’t use mathematical terms and calculations only in school. In fact, most of them are quite essential to daily life. “Percentages” are one such mathematical term that we use everywhere, from the calculation of marks to the measurement of ingredients while cooking and the calculation of discounts while shopping.

In this article, let’s look at what “percentage” means and how to calculate it.

What is a Percentage?

The word “percentage” was derived from the Latin word “per centum,” which means “by the hundredth.” In short, percentages are fractions with a denominator of 100. “%” symbol denotes a percentage.

Examples of Percentage

• Andy received a 50 per cent on his math test, which means he received 50 points out of a possible 100. In fraction form, it’s 50/100, while in terms of ratio, it’s 50:100.
• 3 is what per cent of 12? 3 is 25 per cent of 12.

Calculation of Percentage

Calculating a percentage means determining a portion of a whole in terms of 100.

A percentage can be calculated in two ways:

• For these cases, we employ the unitary method.
• Second, by changing the denominator of the fraction to 100.

It should be noted that the second method of percentage calculation is not used when the denominator is not a factor of 100. For such cases, we use the unitary method.

Originally posted on how to find percentage change!