Finding Percent of a Number
Video Lessons > Finding Percent of a Number
In this video lesson, we're going to learn the steps for finding percent of a number. We'll start by understanding the concept and then look at examples to solidify our understanding. We'll also discuss how to handle scenarios that are less than, equal to, and more than 100%.
Let's look at the details of the lesson including the steps and examples for finding percent of a number.
Let's look at an example of finding 3% of 19. First, the percent needs to be converted to a fraction or decimal. We'll look at the example both ways.
Notice that depending on the approach used (fraction or decimal), the final answer can be expressed either as a fraction (e.g., 57/100) or a decimal (e.g., 0.57).
Let's explore different scenarios involving percentages and their outcomes to gain a better understanding of how to apply the concepts discussed.
In this video lesson, we learned the steps for finding percent of a number. We also discussed patterns that result from finding percentages that are less than, equal to, and more than 100%. Remember that 100% represents the total or the whole amount of the number. Less than 100% results in an answer less than the original number. More than 100% results in an answer greater than the original number. As you work on other problems, keep in mind these patterns to determine whether your answer is logical.
Try this practice activity to see what you learned.
In this video lesson, we're going to learn how to find percent of a number. What is 3% of 19? In math, whenever you see the word “of” that's a clue that we need to multiply. So to find 3% of 19, we'll need to multiply 3% times 19.
The other thing to keep in mind is that whenever you're doing calculations with percent, you have to change the percent to a fraction or a decimal first. So if we want to convert the 3% to a fraction, our problem becomes three over 100 times 19. Or we could also convert the percent to a decimal. In that case, the problem becomes 300ths or 0.03 times 19.
Now that we've converted to a fraction or a decimal, we can go ahead and calculate the answer. So based on the fraction, we would multiply the three times 19, which gives us 57, and bring over the denominator of 100. So the answer would be 57 over 100. Or if we based it off of being a decimal, 300ths times 19 would give us 57 hundredths or zero point 57. So we could write our final answer either way 57 over 100 or 57 hundredths.
Now we'll look at a few examples that involve finding less than 100% of a number, exactly 100% and more than 100% of that number. And as we go through these examples, we'll see if we can find a pattern that can help us when we're working on other problems.
So let's take a look at the one on the left. We want to find 5% of 40. We can write it as a decimal 0.05 and then multiply that by 40. In that case, our final answer is two. So notice that our final answer of two is less than the original number that we started with, which was 40. So whenever our percentage is less than 100, our final answer is going to be less than the number that we started with.
Now let's see if we have exactly 100% of a number. So 100%, when we convert it to either a fraction or a decimal, is just the whole number one. And so if we multiply one times 40, we end up with 40. So in this case, our answer is equal to the original number that we started with. So 100% of 40 will just be equal to 40.
And let's see what happens when we have more than 100% of a number. So in the last example, we have 105% of 40. If we convert 105% to a decimal, it will be equal to one and 500ths or 1.05. And if we multiply that by 40, we get 42. Now, notice that our final answer is more than the original number we started with. 42 is more than 40.
So let's summarize all that. In other words, we could say that 100% represents the total amount or the whole amount of the number that we started with. If we have less than 100%, that represents less than the total, so our answer will be less than the number that we started with. And more than 100% represents more than the total, so our final answer will be more than the number that we started with. So keep that in mind as you work on other problems, and that will give you an idea as to whether or not your answer makes sense.
Related Standard: Common Core 6.RP.A.3
Hi, I'm Mia!
With over 12 years of experience as a classroom teacher, tutor, and homeschool parent, my specialty is easing math anxiety for students of all ages. I'm committed to empowering parents to confidently support their children in math!