Percentage - An Introduction
In this introductory course on percentages, we explore the meaning and use of the percentage symbol (%), which appears frequently in everyday life—such as in discounts, exam results, and interest rates.
Some students find it challenging to convert between percentages, fractions, and decimals. This course simplifies the concept through clear explanations and practical examples, helping students build a solid understanding of percentages.
Related Lessons:
What Does Percentage (%) Symbol Means?
The definition of percent symbol (%) is the number or ratio as a fraction of 100.
- When converting from the percent sign to fractions or decimals, we first replace the % sign with \(\frac{1}{100}\), and then multiply the two terms together.
- When converting ratio to percentage, we will multiply the ratio by 100%. When we key the values into our calculator, we will ignore the % sign, and insert the % sign as a unit after getting the calculator result
Example 1: Understanding % Symbol
a) Express 0.5 as a percentage
b) Express 15% as a fraction in its simplest form.
Example 2: Understanding % Symbol
a) Express \(12\frac{1}{2}\)% as a fraction in its simplest form.
b) Express \(3\frac{3}{5}\)% as a fraction.
c) Express 65cm as a percentage of 4.5m
Example 3: Understanding % Symbol
a) Express 2.5% as a decimal.
b) Express \(\frac{11}{2}\) seconds as a percentage of 1 minute.
Example 4: Understanding % Symbol
120 girls and 80 boys sat for a mathematics examination. If 20% of the girls and 15% of the boys failed, find the percentage of students who failed the mathematics examination.