The term "percentage" refers to a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100. It is often used to describe how much one quantity is in relation to another as a proportion out of 100. The basic formula to calculate a percentage is:
Percentage=(PartWhole)×100\text{Percentage}=\left(\frac{\text{Part}}{\text{Whole}}\right)\times 100Percentage=(WholePart)×100
This means that you divide the part (the portion of the whole you are interested in) by the whole (the total amount), and then multiply by 100 to convert it to a percentage. For example:
- To find how much 10 is as a percentage of 24, divide 10 by 24 and multiply by 100, which gives approximately 41.67%.
- To find what 20% of 30 is, convert 20% to a decimal (0.20) and multiply by 30, resulting in 6.
There are also related formulas:
- To find the part when you know the whole and the percentage:
Part=Whole×Percentage100\text{Part}=\frac{\text{Whole}\times \text{Percentage}}{100}Part=100Whole×Percentage
- To find the whole when you know the part and the percentage:
Whole=100×PartPercentage\text{Whole}=\frac{100\times \text{Part}}{\text{Percentage}}Whole=Percentage100×Part
These formulas cover common percentage calculations such as finding the percentage of a value, calculating the value that corresponds to a percentage, or determining the total when a part and percentage are known.
