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Hey there! Ready to unlock a super-useful math power? Today, we are going to explore what percentages really mean and how they help us compare things easily!
The word 'percent' comes from Latin. 'Per' means 'for each', and 'cent' means 'one hundred' (just like there are 100 cents in a dollar). So, percent literally means 'out of 100'!
Imagine a large grid made of 100 equal squares. If we color in 50 of those squares, we have colored in 50 out of 100, which is exactly 50% of the grid!
Percentages are just another way of writing fractions and decimals. For example, 25% is the same as the fraction 25/100 (which simplifies to 1/4) or the decimal 0.25.
✏️ Worked example
Convert the fraction 4/5 into a percentage.
- Remember that a percentage is a fraction with a denominator of 100.
- Set up an equivalent fraction equation: 4/5 = x/100.
- To find what to multiply the denominator by to get 100, calculate 100 ÷ 5 = 20.
- Multiply both the top (numerator) and the bottom (denominator) of 4/5 by 20.
- 4 × 20 = 80, and 5 × 20 = 100. This gives us 80/100.
- Since 80/100 means '80 out of 100', your final answer is 80%!
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