Percentage formula

Percentage is the word which we come across frequently in our daily life. It is mainly used to compare quantities like the percentage of marks obtained in various exam results or to describe interest rates, stock market details, different types of surveys conducted in various areas etc. From this we can say that Percentages are very much a part of everyone’s life irrespective of the field. Let us now understand the meaning of the word Percent, ‘cent’ means hundred and hence it means ‘per hundred’. So the comparison is done ‘per hundred’ and then calculated for the entire group or the total quantities.  In math percent means ‘out of hundred’ or in simple words ‘divide by hundred’ , so if we say 60% it means 60 out of 100 or 60 divided by 100. The symbol or the sign used to show the percentage is ‘%’, this symbol we come across in various discount sales which are displayed in the shops especially in festive seasons, like 30% discount, up to 50% discount on selected items etc.

In the process of figuring percentages there are different methods which can be followed according to the given problem, like they can be converted into fractions or decimal numbers which makes the calculations easy. 25% would be 25/100 in the fraction form and 0.25 in decimal form, so in 25% of 50 we just multiply 0.25 with 50 to get the desired value, 0.25 x 50=12.5

While calculating percentages the Percentage formula is, [part/whole]=[%/100], we need to remember that the number which is after ‘is’ is the ‘part’ and the number that is after ‘of’ is the ‘whole’. For example, Find percentage, __% of 40 is 8. Here whole=40 and part=8; so  8/40= %/100, on simplification we get 25 %. Another formula to calculate percentage is given by, is/of = %/100. Here we cross multiply to get the desired value, which means the numerator of one fraction is multiplied with the denominator of the fraction on the other side of the equal to sign and then the unknown value is calculated, for instance the cross product of a/b=c/d would be ad = bc. Example: 12 % of 50 is? In the given problem %=12, ’is’ = ? and ‘of’=50, which gives ‘is’/50 = 12/100 here we cross multiply and simplify which gives, ‘is’ = 50x12/100 on further simplification we get the final value of ‘is’= 6. So, 12% of 50 is 6.