Lesson 4.02 - Finding the Percent of a Number

  


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A sign that reads fifteen percent off this table.What is the percent of a number?  You may have seen this in the store when you were shopping with mom, or dad, or grandma.  The sale sign above the table piled high with shirts states, "15% off this table."  You pick out a shirt and the tag shows a price of $25. 
What is 15% of 25? 
 
First, change the % into a decimal.

15% becomes .15

Second, multiple the two numbers.

.15 x 25 = 3.75

15% of 25 is 3.75

 

A tag that reads fifteen percent off.This next one is very similar to the one above.  What if the shirt is marked down $6 from the original price of $24 and you want to find out how much you are saving.  What was the percent off?
 

What is 6 of 24 written as a percent? 

First, 6 of 24 can be written as a fraction.
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six divided by twenty-four is twenty-five hundredths and is twenty-five percent
Second, treat the fraction like a division problem (top divided by bottom).  Last, move the decimal over two places to the right to form 25%.

Practice Activities

 

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