What are Percentages?
In order to recognise and calculate percentages, we need to understand two basic concepts:
In order to recognise and calculate percentages, we need to understand two basic concepts:
When we are discussing percentages, one should always ask the question "percentage of what?", meaning, there must be some whole from which the percentage is calculated. The whole serves as a reference point for the percentages.
Let's demonstrate this using two examples.
What is of ?
Solution:
When we are asked to find a part () of a whole (), we need to multiply the part by the whole.
Therefore we obtain the following:
A shirt originally cost dollars and it's currently on sale with a discount.
We are asked to calculate the price of the shirt after the price reduction.
Solution:
After the price reduction, the shirt's price is (before the reduction the price was ).
is actually .
In order to calculate of , we perform a simple multiplication - .
In other words, the price of the shirt after the price reduction is dollars.