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The word percent means parts per 100 or for each 100. A percent describes an amount by showing it as part of 100. Percent amounts are written using this symbol: %.
Look at the model below. 50 out of 100 parts are shaded. You already know how to show this amount as a fraction and a decimal. You can also show the amount as a percent.
Fraction:
Decimal: 0.50
Percent: 50% Read this as 50 percent.
50100
In the model below, 5 out of 100 parts are shaded. Compare it to the number shaded in the model above.
Fraction:
Decimal: 0.05 < 0.50
Percent: 5% < 50% 5 percent is less than 50 percent.
5100
50100<
Think You compare percents just as you compare decimals and fractions.
Circle all the numbers on the page that are percents.
A percent compares a part to the whole, just as a fraction can. Percent means parts per
100, so 25% means 25 parts per 100, or 25 ··· 100 . You can always write a percent as a fraction
using 100 as the denominator.
100 of 100 parts 65 of 100 parts 4 of 100 parts 21 of 100 parts
100% 65% 4% 21%
• Percent is a way to describe a part of the whole, when the whole is 100. For example, if you take a test with 100 questions and you get 90 questions correct, you got 90 percent of the questions correct.
90 out of 100 correct 90100
correct 90% correct
One whole describes all or 100% in every percent situation. If you know that you got 90% of the test questions correct, you know that you got 10% of the questions incorrect.
• Percent is also a way to describe groups or parts even when the whole may not be equal to 100. Suppose you know that 45% of the students in your town ride a bus to school. You don’t know the number of students that ride a bus to school, but you know that a little less than half of the students do.
Reflect
1 A bicyclist has traveled 20% of the total distance from home to school. Is that less
than 1 ·· 4 of the distance, exactly 1 ·· 4 , or more than 1 ·· 4 ? Explain how you know.