Content

• Steps
• Advice

Percent is all around us. Knowing what they are, what they mean, and how they are calculated is very helpful. Working with them is not as difficult as it seems, and the tutorial below can help.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Calculate Percentage of a Sum

1. 

   Know what a percentage is. Percent is a representation of a number as part of a sum. To calculate the percentage, we consider the total to be 100%. For example, let's say you have 10 apples (= 100%).If you eat 2 apples, that means you have eaten 2/10 × 100% = 20% of the apples you have and you have 80% of the original apples.
   • The term "percent" in English is of Italian origin per cento or French pour cent, does that mean per hundred (over a hundred).

2. 

   
   
   Determine the value of the sum. For example, let's say you have a pot containing 1199 red marbles and 485 blue marbles for a total of 1684 marbles. In this case, 1684 is the total number of marbles in the pot, and is considered 100%.

3. 

   Find the value that you want to convert to a percentage. Suppose, we want to find the percentage of the pot being occupied by 485 blue marbles.

4. 

   
   
   Place the above two values ​​in the fraction. In this example, we need to find the percentage value of 485 (number of blue marbles) above 1684 (total number of marbles). Therefore the fraction that constitutes will be 485/1684.

5. 

   Convert the fraction to a decimal. To convert 485/1684 to a decimal, divide 485 by 1684. The result is 0.288.

6. 

   
   
   Convert decimals to percentages. Multiplying the result obtained in the step above by 100. In this example, 0.288 multiplied by 100 equals 28.8 or 28.8%.
   • A simple way to multiply a decimal by 100 is to move the decimal digit over right two digits.
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Method 2 of 3: Convert Percentage to Numeric Value

1. 

   Know when you need to switch back. Sometimes you are given a percentage of a number and need to know the numerical value of that percentage. Examples include calculating taxes, commissions, and interest on loans.

2. 

   Know the original numbers. Let's say you borrow money from a friend with interest. The initial loan amount is 300,000 VND and the interest rate is 3% per day. These are the only two numbers you will need to calculate.

3. 

   Convert a percentage to a decimal number. Multiply that percentage by 0.01 or simply move the decimal over left two digits. As a result, it converts 3% to 0.03.

4. 

   Multiply the original total by the new decimal place. In this case, multiply 300,000 by 0.03. The result is 9,000. Thus, 9,000 VND is the daily interest that you must pay your friend. advertisement

Method 3 of 3: Discount Calculator

1. 

   Know the discounted price and amount. This is a very simple way to calculate the discounted price, but you must know the exact percentage discount.

2. 

   Find the opposite of the discount percentage. The opposite of a percentage value is 100% minus the percentage you have. If you buy a shirt that is 30% off, the opposite of it is 70%.

3. 

   Convert the opposite percentage to a decimal number. To convert a percentage to a decimal number, multiply it by 0.01 or move that decimal two digits to the side. left. In this example, 70% becomes 0.7.

4. 

   Multiply the price of the money by the new decimal. If the shirt you want to buy costs 50,000 VND, multiply 50,000 by 0.7. The result is 35,000. That means the shirt is sold at a discounted price of 35,000 dong. advertisement

Advice

• The percentages can be represented using a pie chart. The whole circle represents 100%. The circle's parts represent percentages of the whole circle or 100% itself.