Lesson 14 PERCENT
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For example, 8 is 50% of 16. Every statement of percent therefore involves three numbers. 8 is called the Amount. 50% is the Percent. 16 is called the Base. The Base always follows "of." Example. "$78 is 12% of how much?" Which number is unknown -- the Amount, the Percent, or the Base? Answer. We do not know the Base, the number that follows "of." |
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We have seen that to find 8% of $600, for example, we multiply. We can now recognize that $600 is the Base -- it follows "of," and 8% is the Percent. We are looking for the Amount. We can state the following rule:
This is Rule 1. To find the Amount, multiply. There is also a rule for finding the Base and finding the Percent.
Notice that we multiply only to find the Amount. In the other two cases, we divide. (This follows from the relationship between multiplication and division, which we saw in Lesson 11.) |
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Example 1. How much is 37.5% of $48.72? Solution. We have the Percent, and we have the Base -- it follows "of." We are missing the Amount. Apply Rule 1: Multiply Base × Percent. Press
The answer is displayed:
On many calculators, you will see that before you press = . Rather than press the percent key, you could express the percent as a decimal. Press
Example 2. $250 is 62.5% of how much? Solution. The Base -- the number that follows "of" is unknown. Apply Rule 2: Divide: Amount ÷ Percent. Press
The answer is displayed:
Again, you will see that before you press = . Or, change 62.5% to the decimal .625:
See:
Example 3. $51.03 is what percent of $405? Solution. The Percent is unknown. Apply Rule 3: Amount ÷ Base. Press
See
$51.03 is 12.6% of $405. Again, we multiply only in one of the three problems; namely, to find the Amount. Now in Lesson 12, we saw how to round off a decimal. The following examples will require that. Example 4. How much is 9.7% of $84.60? Solution. The Amount is missing. Multiply Base × Percent. Press
It is not necessary to press the 0 of 84.60. On the screen, see this:
Since this is money, we must round off to two decimal digits. In the third decimal place is a 6; therefore add 1 to the second place: $8.21 Example 5. $84.60 is 9.7% of how much? (Compare this with Example 4.) Solution. Here, the Base is missing. Divide:
See
Again, this is money, so we must approximate it to two decimal digits: $872.16 Example 6. $48.60 is what percent of $96.40? Solution. The Percent is missing. (Compare Example 3.) Divide: Percent = Amount ÷ Base.
Again, it is not necessary to press the 0's on the end of decimals. On the screen, see this decimal:
Let us round this off to one decimal digit. Since the digit in the second place is 1 (less than 5), this is approximately 50.4%. Example 7. Michelle paid $82.68 for a pair of shoes -- but that included a tax of 6%. What was the actual price of the shoes before the tax? Solution. The actual price, the base, was 100%. When the 6% tax was added, the price became 106% of that base. So the question is: $82.68 is 106% of how much? To find the Base, press
See
The actual price was $78. Equivalently, the calculation is
* For problems of percent increase or decrease, see Lesson 31.
At this point, please "turn" the page and do some Problems. or Continue on to the next Lesson. Introduction | Home | Table of Contents Copyright © 2021 Lawrence Spector Questions or comments? E-mail: teacher@themathpage.com |