Solve Problems Using Percents
Percents are your friend. Think of all the cool things percents do for you. They save you money, and they tell you how well you are doing in school. Learn how you can solve problems with percents in this video lesson.
The Awesome Percent
Percents are awesome! Why are they awesome, you ask? Because they can tell me whether I will save loads of money or whether I have aced an exam. A percent, you may recall, literally means 'per one hundred.' You can also think of a percent as a part of a whole. When solving problems, working with percents can be a challenge. But, let me show you a systematic approach that you can take to these problems so that they don't become confusing.
To begin, let me show you some of the typical problems you may encounter. You might see some problems like these:
What is 75 percent of 30?
What percentage is 60 out of 130?
I call problems like these straightforward ones because you can pretty much translate them directly into math symbols. Keep watching, and I'll show you how.
You might see slightly more complex problems, such as this one:
If a certain shoe has been discounted by 55% and the original price is $218, what is the amount you will end up paying for the shoe after the discount?
I'll also show you how to think about these problems so you can solve them easily, so keep watching.
Before I explain how to do these problems, I want to tell you about the shortcuts that you should remember so that you can quickly translate your word problems into math problems.
The Shortcuts
The first shortcut is that when you see a phrase such as 'a percentage of something,' that 'of' translates into multiplication. So, if you see a problem such as '75 percent of 20,' you should immediately translate that into 75 percent times 20.
The second shortcut requires you to see the details in your problem. If you see a phrase such as 'a number out of another number' or 'a number of another number,' this 'of' translates into division. So, if you see something like '65 out of 80,' you would write it mathematically as 65 / 80, or 65 divided by 80.
Just to recap, if you see 'a percent of something,' you should write out the problem as the percent times the something. But, if you saw 'something of something else,' then you would write it as something divided by something else. Remember these hints, because they can be a real lifesaver during tests. Now, let's see how we can use these shortcuts to solve the straightforward problems.