I need help on calculating percentages - who can help??

[jellyjelly]

I cant remember how you work out a percentage from an amount ie

percentage of an amount but on a calc not manual.

Thanks

multiple the amount by the % you want i.e

20% of say 100 is 100x20 and the % sign on calc ( i think) will go and work it out

Put in smaller number
press divide
put in larger number
press % key

eg 16 as % of 32:

key in 16
press divide
key in 32
press %

answer = 50

oops i have forgotten too

ur right jan divide. No wonder i didnt do higher maths :(

Janh you STAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is by faar the easiest explanation i have EVER seen of how to do it...thanks

so 75 % of 440 can you explain this. I hate maths as i find it so hard.

Pleasure, Donbean

jj, did that help or is that not what you want - if you're wanting to get eg 50% of something then you do use multiply:

using the same figures again

32
press times
50
press %

answer = 16

440
press times
75
press %

answer = 330

And if you want to subtract a percentage:

440
press times
75
press %
press minus
press equals

answer = 110

or to add a percentage

440
press times
75
press %
press plus
press equals

answer = 770

HTH

so is it always
fugure
times
figure
percent

?

Yes - as long as you need to know what a given percentage of a given figure is:

eg for VAT on £200 -

200
press times
17.5
press %
answer = 35

yes i understand that now and have practiced. Next thing is

box of chocs500g on special with 20% free so how do i work that out?

500 times 20 divided by 100 = 100g

Take the percent of something is the percent no (20 in your example) divided by 100.

500
press times
20
press % (= 100g)
press plus
press equals

answer = 600g

might have to think about this tonight and sleep on it. Thanks very much will be doing ratios tomorrow which i didnt get so might be online again.

You can do these percentages roughly, without a calculator, if it helps.

10% is a tenth (divide by 10)
20% is a fifth (divide by 5)
25% is a quarter (divide by 4)
etc.

So if you're starting with 500:

10% is 50 (divide by 10)
20% is 100 (divide by 5)
25% is 125 (divide by 4)
30% is 150 (divide by 10 and then multiply by 3)

etc etc.

It's easier with nice round numbers like 100s but you can do it roughly even with less nice numbers by rounding up or down to the next nearest.

So for a number like 330, you could go up to 350 or down to 300 and work out a rough percentage based on that; then when you work out with your precise numbers using a calculator, you can check against your rough figures to see if they are in the same general area.

Also, VAT is quite easy to work out by using

10%
5%
2.5%

where you halve the figure each time and then add the results.

Starting with 300:

10% = 30
5% = 15
2.5% = 7.5

17.5% = 52.5