What are Percentages

To understand what percentages are, think of it in terms of “per cent”. The “per” means “out of” and the “cent” refers to one hundred. So, “percentage” means out of a hundred. Percentages can be written as common fractions. For the example of 35%, we can write it as 35 out of 100 and then we can simplify the fraction to 7 out of 20. If you have a common fraction, you can also write that as a percentage. How can we do that? In the case of 2 out of 5, you need to change the denominator to 100 by multiplying it by 20. However, as you should not change the value of the fraction, you also have to multiply the numerator, 2, with 20. Then you still have equivalent fractions. Now you will have 40 out of 100 and you can write that as 40%.