Calculating percent is an essential math skill, whether you’re taking a course or just living life! Percentages are employed to make car and house payments, determine tips, and pay taxes on goods. As a result, percent calculations are essential to many classes, particularly science courses. Here’s a step-by-step lesson on how to determine percent.

What Is Percent?

Percentage of percent means ‘per one hundred’ and conveys the fraction of a number out of 100% or the entire amount. A percent sign (%) or the acronym “pct” denotes percentage.

How To Calculate Percent

1. Decide the total or the whole amount.
2. Divide the number to be conveyed as a percent by the total. You will often divide the smaller number by the larger one.
3. Multiply the resulting value by 100.

Example Percent Calculation

Say you have 30 rubber balls. If 12 of them are red, what percent of balls are red? What percent are not red?

1. Use the complete number of marbles. This is 30.
2. Divide the number of red marbles into the total: 12/30 = 0.4
3. Multiple this number by 100 to find the percent: 0.4 x 100 = 40% are red
4. You have two methods to verify what percent are not blue. The simplest is to take the total percent minus the blue percent: 100% – 40% = 60%, not blue. You could compute it like you did the initial red marble problem. You know the complete number of marbles. The number that is not red is the total minus the red marbles: 30 – 12 = 18 non-red marbles. The percent that is not red is 18/30 x 100 = 60%. To check your work, you can ensure the total of red and non-red marbles equals 100%: 40% + 60% = 100%