Percentage

A percentage is a way of expressing a proportion, a ratio or a fraction as a whole number, by using 100 as the denominator. A number such as "45%" ("45 percent" or "45 per cent") is shorthand for the fraction 45/100 or 0.45.

Related Topics:
Fraction - Denominator

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As an illustration,

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: "45 percent of human beings..."

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is equivalent to both of the following:

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: "45 out of every 100 people..."

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: "0.45 of the human population..."

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One way to think about percentages is to realize that "one percent", represented by the symbol %, is simply the number 1/100, or 0.01.

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A percentage may be a number larger than 100; for example, 200% of a number refers to twice the number. In fact, this would be a 100% increase, while a 200% increase would give a number three times the original value. Thus one can see the relationship between percent increase and times increase.

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