What Are Some Formulas Used for Figuring Percentages?


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The word percent means "out of one hundred." A percentage represents how much a part of something is in relation to the whole value. This is easy to see when the whole value is 100, such as 100 cents in one dollar. If you have 50 cents, you have 50% of one dollar.

When a whole value is not 100, a percentage represents a part of something in terms of 100. This can make visualizing or interpreting the portion's value in relation to a whole easier if the numbers involved are difficult to perceive. For example, 1,468 out of 7,340 may be difficult to interpret, but 20% is a bit easier to understand or visualize.

If the value of a part and a whole is known, calculating a percentage is simple: Divide the part (in this example, 5) by the whole or total (in this example, 50). For any instance where the part is less than the whole, this will result in a decimal answer (in this example, 0.1). To express this decimal as a percentage, multiply the answer by 100; this can be done simply by moving the decimal place two spaces to the right, filling any space with no number with the number zero (in this example, 0.1 becomes 10).

10% is another way of saying 10 out of 100 (or 10/100). In the example, the actual part and whole ratio, 5/50, has the same value as 10/100.

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