Percentages in School

While some students may cringe at the thought of using percentages, it's important for them to understand just how often they are used, and in ways they may not even realize. While percentages are related to fractions, they are basically a way to use math to compare results, or to calculate a rate.

What are Percentages?

A percentage is derived from a common fraction. This fraction is set as an amount of one hundred. As a matter of fact, if you break down the word "percent", it really means "per hundred". If you have an understanding of fractions, you can convert a percent to a fraction. All you need to do is convert the fraction so that the denominator is 100. The resulting numerator will be the percentage. In the case of the fraction, ³⁰/₅₀, this would convert to ⁶⁰/₁₀₀. That means that ³⁰/₅₀ is saying the same as 30 is 60% of 50.

Percentages and Money

Another easy way to think of percentages is with money. Since every dollar is 100 cents, one cent is literally one percent of a dollar. For teachers, this can be an easy way to introduce students to the principals of percentages. Once students have a grasp of percentages in the use of finance, you can move on to more advanced lessons that involve loans, rates, and the interest.

Grades and Percentages

For most students, the most important place to apply percentages is in the form of grades. Since most homework assignments and tests have a certain value associated to them, or a set amount of questions, teachers will grade students by what percentage of questions they answered correctly. If a test has 80 questions, and the student answered 70 correct, they answered ⁶⁴/₈₀th's of the questions correctly. Converted to a percentage, this comes out to 80%.

Percentage Calculators

Whether you are a student, or a teacher, learning how to calculate percentages is obviously important for functioning in our society. As a resource to help learn more about percentages, try a APY Interest Calculator to practice how percentages are used in loans, grades, health, and even in nature. You can use some of the other online calculators to help with different math calculations you may use every day.

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