The term percentage has an eminently mathematical meaning and is used very frequently in all kinds of daily operations, such as shopping, calculating a discount for a product or keeping some kind of accounting control. There are different ways to calculate a percentage: it can be done mentally using simple quantities, using a mathematical formula and writing it down on paper, with a calculator or with a spreadsheet.
The mathematical symbol and the meaning of the term
The mathematical symbol of the percentage is%, in such a way that a numerical quantity is indicated and is accompanied by the corresponding symbol (5%, 10%, 13% ...). In common language, percentage is equal to a percentage. It must be taken into account that percentage refers to a quantity, specifically 100, since a percentage of one quantity with respect to another means that out of every 100 parts we want to know a certain quantity (2% would be two parts of 100 and the 75% would be 75 parts of 100). Thus, the quantity indicated in a percentage is always related to another quantity, since it is a matter of calculating the percentage of one thing with respect to another. In this way, we need to know 10% of 7000 or 4% of 14500.
Practical examples and a brief explanation for their calculation
A basketball player shoots 15 times to the basket in a game and gets 12 hits. If we want to know his shooting effectiveness, we must calculate the percentage of success in the following way: 12 x 100 and the result is divided by 15, which offers a value of 80, which is the percentage of success of the pitcher. The 80% data allows conclusions to be drawn about the effectiveness of the player.
I'm going to buy a carpet that costs $ 260, but at the store they give me an 8% discount. To calculate the amount that I am going to save, I perform the following calculation: 260 x 8 and the result is divided by 100. You could also calculate the percentage in another way, that is, 260: 100 x 8. In any case, the 8% of 260 is 20.8, so I will ultimately pay $ 239.2 for the carpet.
There are situations in which calculating a percentage does not require any operation, either on paper or on the calculator. If they tell me that there is a 50% discount on a product, this means that I will pay half the indicated price for it.
Mathematics can be very complex, but in the case of calculating percentages we are facing one of the simplest and most practical operations that we can use in everyday life.
Photos: iStock - mathisworks / alphaspirit
