Calculating Percentages
HOW TO FIND PERCENTAGES USING A CALCULATOR
What is 30% of 50? Since % means out of 100, we could re-word this problem as, "What is (30 out of 100) of 50?" Still not sure what to punch into your calculator? Try a bit more math translation:
"out of" indicates division
"of" indicates multiplication
Now your problem reads, "What is (30 ÷ 100) x 50?" Here's how you can solve it using a calculator:
STEP 1: PERCENT TO DECIMAL
Enter the percentage as a decimal. You can do this by dividing the number by 100.
In this example, you'll end up with the decimal number 0.3.
STEP 2: MULTIPLY
Multiply this decimal number times the amount from the problem.
STEP 3: SOLVE AND CHECK
The solution is 15. So, 30% of 50 is 15. That makes sense, because 30% is a bit less than half. So 30% of 50 should be a bit less than half of 50 or a bit less than 25.
Did you simply have to find the percentage or do you have to do something with it? Some math problems may require you to perform extra steps after finding the percentage, so read carefully!