6.

4 Three Types of Percent Problems

6.4 OBJECTIVES
1. Find the unknown amount in a percent problem
2. Find the unknown rate in a percent problem
3. Find the unknown base in a percent problem

From your work in Section 6.3, you may have observed that there are three basic types of
percent problems. These depend on which of the three parts—the amount, the rate, or the
base—is missing in the problem statement. The solution for each type of problem depends
on the percent relationship.

Rules and Properties: Percent Relationship

Amount  rate  base

We will illustrate the solution of each type of problem in the following examples. Let’s start
with a problem in which we want to find the amount.

Example 1
Finding an Unknown Amount

What is 18% of 300?

NOTE Type 1: Finding an We know the rate, 18%; and the base, 300; the amount is the unknown. Using the
unknown amount. percent relationship, we can translate the problem to an equation.

Rate Base
Write 18% as the decimal 0.18 by the
Amount  0.18  300 rule of Section 6.1. Then multiply to
find the amount.
 54

So 54 is 18% of 300.

CHECK YOURSELF 1
Find 65% of 200.
© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

1. If the rate is less than 100%, the amount will be less than the base.
20 is 40% of 50 and 20  50
2. If the rate is greater than 100%, the amount will be greater than the base.

75 is 150% of 50 and 75  50
Let’s consider a second type of percent problem involving an unknown rate.

495
496 CHAPTER 6 PERCENTS

Example 2
Finding an Unknown Percent

30 is what percent of 150?

NOTE Type 2: Finding an We know the amount, 30, and the base, 150; the rate (what percent) is the unknown.
unknown percent. Again using the percent relationship to translate to an equation, we have

Base Amount

Rate  150  30
NOTE This will leave the rate We divide both sides by 150 to find the rate.
alone on the left.

 
30 1 1
Rate    0.20  20  20%
150 5 100

30 is 20% of 150.

CHECK YOURSELF 2
75 is what percent of 300?

1. If the amount is less than the base, the rate will be less than 100%.
2. If the amount is greater than the base, the rate will be greater than 100%.

Let’s look at a percent problem involving an unknown base in Example 3.

Example 3
Finding an Unknown Base

28 is 40% of what number?

NOTE Type 3: Finding an We know the amount, 28, and the rate, 40%. The base (what number) is the unknown.
unknown base. From the percent relationship we have

Rate Amount

NOTE Notice that 40% is 0.40  base  28

written as 0.40.
We divide both sides by 0.40 to find the base.

28
Base   70
© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

0.40

So 28 is 40% of 70.

CHECK YOURSELF 3
70 is 35% of what number?
 THREE TYPES OF PERCENT PROBLEMS SECTION 6.4 497

We have now seen solution methods for the three basic types of percent problems: find-
ing the amount, the rate, and the base. As you will see in the remainder of this section, our
work in Chapter 5 with proportions will allow us to solve each type of problem in an iden-
tical fashion. In fact, many students find percent problems easier to approach with the
proportion method.
First, we will write what is called the percent proportion.

Rules and Properties: The Percent Proportion

Amount R

Base 100

In symbols,
R
NOTE On the right, is the A R
100 
rate, and this proportion is B 100
equivalent to our earlier
percent relationship.

Because in any percent problem we know two of the three quantities (A, B, or R), we can
always solve for the unknown term. Consider in Example 4 the use of the percent proportion.

Example 4
Solving a Problem Involving an Unknown Amount

NOTE This is an unknown- ________ is 30% of 150.

amount problem.
A R B

Substitute the values into the percent proportion.

R
The amount A is the unknown
A 30
 term of the proportion.
150 100

B
We solve the proportion with the methods of Section 5.4.
100A  150  30
100A  4500
Divide by the coefficient, 100.
1
100 A 4500

100 100
© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

A  45
The amount is 45. This means that 45 is 30% of 150.

CHECK YOURSELF 4
Use the percent proportion to answer this question: What is 24% of 300?
498 CHAPTER 6 PERCENTS

The same percent proportion will work if you want to find the rate.

Example 5
Solving a Problem Involving an Unknown Rate

NOTE This is an unknown-rate ______% of 400 is 72.

problem.

R B A
Substitute the known values into the percent proportion.
A
72 R R, the rate, is the unknown
 term in this case.
400 100
B
Solving, we get
400R  7200
1
400R 7200

400 400
1

R  18
The rate is 18%. So 18% of 400 is 72.

CHECK YOURSELF 5
Use the percent proportion to answer this question: What percent of 50 is 12.5?

Finally, we use the same proportion to find an unknown base.

Example 6
Solving a Problem Involving an Unknown Base
40% of ______ is 200.
NOTE This is an unknown-base
problem.
R B A
Substitute the known values into the percent proportion.
A R
200 40 In this case B, the base, is the unknown
 term of the proportion.
B 100
© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

Solving gives
40B  200  100
1
40B 20,000

40 40
1
B  500
The base is 500, and 40% of 500 is 200.
 THREE TYPES OF PERCENT PROBLEMS SECTION 6.4 499

Remember that a percent (the rate) can be greater than 100.

CHECK YOURSELF 6
288 is 60% of what number?

Example 7
Solving a Percent Problem

What is 125% of 300?

NOTE The rate is 125%. The
base is 300. In the percent proportion, we have
A 125
NOTE When the rate is greater 
than 100%, the amount will be 300 100
greater than the base.
So 100A  300  125.
Dividing by 100 yields
37,500
A  375
100
So 375 is 125% of 300.

CHECK YOURSELF 7
Find 150% of 500.

We next look at two examples of solving percent problems involving fractions of a

percent.

Example 8
Solving a Percent Problem

34 is 8.5% of what number?

Using the percent proportion yields
NOTE The amount is 34, the 34 8.5
rate is 8.5%. We want to find 
B 100
the base.
Solving, we have
8.5B  34  100
or
© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

3400
NOTE Divide by 8.5. B  400
8.5
So 34 is 8.5% of 400.

CHECK YOURSELF 8
12.5% of what number is 75?
500 CHAPTER 6 PERCENTS

Example 9
Estimating Percentages

Find 19.3% of 500.

 
1
Round the rate to 20% as a fraction, . An estimate of the amount is then
5
1
 500  100
5

Rounded rate Base Estimate of amount

CHECK YOURSELF 9
Estimate the amount.

20.2% of 800

CHECK YOURSELF ANSWERS

1. 130 2. 25% 3. 200
4. R 5. A
A 24 12.5 R
 
300 100 50 100
B B
100A  7200; A  72 50R  1250; R  25%

6. A R 7. 750 8. 600 9. 160

288 60

B 100
60B  28,800; B  480

© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

 Name

6.4 Exercises Section Date

Solve each of the following problems involving percent.

1. What is 35% of 600? 2. 20% of 400 is what number? ANSWERS

1. 2.
3. 45% of 200 is what number? 4. What is 40% of 1200?
3. 4.
5. Find 40% of 2500. 6. What is 75% of 120?
5. 6.

7. What percent of 50 is 4? 8. 51 is what percent of 850? 7. 8.

9. What percent of 500 is 45? 10. 14 is what percent of 200? 9. 10.

11. 12.
11. What percent of 200 is 340? 12. 392 is what percent of 2800?
13. 14.
13. 46 is 8% of what number? 14. 7% of what number is 42?
15. 16.

15. Find the base if 11% of the base is 55. 16. 16% of what number is 192? 17. 18.

19. 20.
17. 58.5 is 13% of what number? 18. 21% of what number is 73.5?

21. 22.
19. Find 110% of 800. 20. What is 115% of 600?
23. 24.
21. What is 108% of 4000? 22. Find 160% of 2000.
25. 26.

23. 210 is what percent of 120? 24. What percent of 40 is 52? 27. 28.

29. 30.
25. 360 is what percent of 90? 26. What percent of 15,000 is 18,000?
31. 32.
27. 625 is 125% of what number? 28. 140% of what number is 350?
33.

29. Find the base if 110% of the base is 935. 30. 130% of what number is 1170? 34.

1 35.
31. Find 8.5% of 300. 32. 8 % of 800 is what number?
4
36.
© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

3
33. Find 11 % of 6000. 34. What is 3.5% of 500? 37.
4

38.
35. What is 5.25% of 3000? 36. What is 7.25% of 7600?

39.
37. 60 is what percent of 800? 38. 500 is what percent of 1500?
40.
39. What percent of 180 is 120? 40. What percent of 800 is 78?

501
ANSWERS

41. 41. What percent of 1200 is 750? 42. 68 is what percent of 800?

42. 1
43. 10.5% of what number is 420? 44. Find the base if 11 % of the base
2
43. is 46.
45. 58.5 is 13% of what number? 46. 6.5% of what number is 325?
44.

45. 47. 195 is 7.5% of what number? 48. 21% of what number is 73.5?

46. Estimate the amount in each of the following problems.

47. 49. Find 25.8% of 4000. 50. What is 48.3% of 1500?

48.
51. 74.7% of 600 is what number? 52. 9.8% of 1200 is what number?
49.
53. Find 152% of 400. 54. What is 118% of 5000?
50.

51. 55. It is customary when eating in a restaurant to leave a 15% tip.

(a) Outline a method to do a quick approximation for the amount of tip to leave.
52.
(b) Use this method to figure a 15% tip on a bill of $47.76.
53.

54.

55.

56.

56. The dean of Enrollment Management at a college states, “Last year was not a good year.
Our enrollments were down 25%. But this year we increased our enrollment by 30% over
last year. I think we have turned the corner.” Evaluate the dean’s analysis.
© 2001 McGraw-Hill Companies

Answers
1. 210 3. 90 5. 1000 7. 8% 9. 9% 11. 170% 13. 575
15. 500 17. 450 19. 880 21. 4320 23. 175% 25. 400%
27. 500 29. 850 31. 25.5 33. 705 35. 157.5 37. 7.5%
2
39. 66 % 41. 62.5% 43. 4000 45. 450 47. 2600 49. 1000
3
51. 450 53. 600 55.

502