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Week 5/6: PERCENTAGES

Percent literally means “per 100,” or “parts per hundred.” When we write 40%, this is
equivalent to the fraction or the decimal 0.40. Notice that 80 out of 200 and 10 out
of 25 are also 40%, since .

Converting between percentages and fractions or decimals

To write a % as a fraction or decimal: divide by 100.

For example 64% = = 0.64

To write a decimal or fraction as a %: multiply by 100.

For example 0.125 = = 12.5%

Example 1
243 people out of 400 state that they like dogs. What percent is this?

243 60.75
 0.6075  . This is 60.75%.
400 100

Notice that the percent can be found from the equivalent decimal by moving the decimal
point two places to the right.

Fill the following table. Leave fractions and mixed numbers is reduced form:
Fraction or Mixed Decimal Percent
Number
0.9

2.4

34%

235%
9
20
2
3
5
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Solving Percents problems with the proportion:

Example 2

What is 30% of 120?

Set up as a proportion:

Cross multiply:
100x = 3,600

x = 36

Example 3

9 is what percent of 45?

Set up as a proportion

Cross Multiply
45x = 900

x = 20

Example 4

18 is 9% of what number?

Set up as a proportion:

Cross Multiply: 9x = 1800

x = 200
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Example 5
Mrs. Brown has 50 students in her math class. If 40% of the students have a calculator,
how many students have a calculator?

50 is the total, 40 is the percent

Cross Multiply
100x = 2000

x = 20 20 students have calculators.

Example 6
Brittany paid $6.00 in sales tax for a table. The tax rate is 5%. What is the purchase
price of the table (before tax)?

$6.00 is the part, 5 is the percent

Set up a proportion.

Cross Multiply
5x = 600

x = 120 $120.00 is the purchase price

Example 7
In a shipment of 2000 auto parts, 120 are found to be defective. What percent are
defective?

120 is the part, 2000 is the total

120 x

Set up a proportion 2000 100

Cross Multiply
2000x = 12000
x=6 6% defective
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Percent Practice
1. What is 70% of 500?

2. 4 is 80% of what number?

3. 7 is what percent of 28?

4. Sue answers 42 out of 60 questions correctly. What percent of her answers are
correct?

5. There are 180 grams of acid in 900 grams of a solution. What percent of the solution
is acid?

6. If the sales tax rate is 6%, find the tax on a $429.95 television to the nearest cent.

7. A mechanic has an income of $350 per week. Twenty percent of the income is
deducted for income tax payment, what is the amount of the income tax?

8. There were 1200 students that took the entrance exam to trade school. If 960
students passed the entrance exam, what percent failed the exam?

9. On a test, Alice had 60% of the problems correct. If she did 30 problems correctly,
how many questions were on the test?

10. A fast food company uses 6% of its budget for advertising. If the amount spent on
advertising is $480.00, what is the total budget of the fast food company?

1. On a 20-item practice test, how many questions must you answer correctly for a
score of 80% correct?

2. A car salesperson advertises 18% off the price of a $3990.00 Yugo. What would the
new price be?

3. Barb earns a 26% commission on each lab manual she sells. If she sells 1200
manuals at $9.95 each, find her commission.

4. In one state, sales tax is 6%. If sales tax on a car is $564.00, find the price of the car
before tax.

5. Of the 540 seniors at Lake City High School, 35% are going on a school trip. If the
buses ordered for the trip seat 42 students, how many buses will be needed so that
each student will have a seat?
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Solving Percents increase/decrease problems with the proportion:

Difference Percent

Original Value 100

Example 8
The value of a car dropped from $7400 to $6800 over the last year. What percent
decrease is this?

To compute the percent change, we first need to find the dollar value change: $6800-
$7400 = -$600. Often we will take the absolute value of this amount, which is called the
absolute change: 600  600 .
Since we are computing the decrease relative to the starting value, we compute this
percent out of $7400:
600
 0.081  8.1% decrease. This is called a relative change.
7400

Example 9
At Xcite the original price of a desk lamp was $50 last spring and now the price is $60.
Find the percent change.

$60 - $50 = $10 = difference

Gives:

Now cross-multiply to solve.

50x = 1000
x = 20. So we have a 20% increase in price.

Example 10
Suppose a stock drops in value by 60% one week, then increases in value the next week
by 75%. Is the value higher or lower than where it started?

To answer this question, suppose the value started at $100. After one week, the value
dropped by 60%:
$100 - $100(0.60) = $100 - $60 = $40.

In the next week, notice that base of the percent has changed to the new value, $40.
Computing the 75% increase:
$40 + $40(0.75) = $40 + $30 = $70.

$30
In the end, the stock is still $30 lower, or  30% lower, valued than it started.
$100
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Percent Increase/Decrease Practice

1. Jack’s average in Math for the first nine weeks was an 88. His second nine weeks
average decreased 12.5%. What was his average for the second nine weeks?

2. In 1967, a 30-second Super Bowl commercial cost $40,000. In 2000, a 30-second

commercial cost $1,800,000. What was the percent of change in the cost of a
commercial?

3. A manufacturing company with 450 employees begins a new product line and must
increase their number of employees by 18%. How many total employees does the
company now have?

4. During a sale, a shirt was marked down from $70 to $56. What was the percent
decrease?

5. Shannon had 765 cards in her baseball collection. She sold 153 of the cards to
purchase a new iPod. What is the percent of change in the number of Shannon’s
baseball card collection?

6. A teacher earns $18,500 per year. If 18% of her income is withheld for taxes, how
much money is withheld for taxes? How much of her income is left after taxes?

7. A 25 fills stamp is increased to 30 fills. What percent of the original price does this
increase represent?

8. At $450 per month, a student pays $5400 a year in rent. If his annual income is
$15,000, what percent of his income is spent on rent?

9. What percent was a television set reduced if it was marked $225 and sold for $195?

10. A boat has a retail price of $9995.00. If it is on sale for $8495, what is the percent
discount to the nearest percent?

11. A boat on sale last week for $8495.00 is marked up to $9995.00. What is the percent
of price increase to the nearest percent?

12. A carpet salesperson claims that a carpet on sale for $12.95 per square yard is 30%
off its original price. What was its original price?

13. A stereo costs $418.70, including 6% sales ax. How much was the sales tax itself?

14. Find the annual rate of inflation of a gallon of milk costing $2.25 last year and $2.70
this year.
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15. In an election, one candidate claimed 52% of the votes, while the other candidate
claimed 2681 votes. If 5000 people voted, how do you know the election results are
invalid?

16. If you answered 37 items correctly on a test, and received a score of 74%, how many
items were on the test?

17. 85% of the students who take College Algebra pass the course. How many fail out of
140 students?