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Percents and Fractions

The word percent means “hundredths” or “divided by 100 .”  The symbol % is used to represent percent.

      39 % means 39 divided by 100 or ( 39 100 )

This shows how to convert a percent to a fraction . Sometimes you may need to reduce the resulting fraction to lowest terms.

5 % = 5 100 = 1 5 20 5 = 1 20

If the percent is not a whole number, you may need to use a denominator greater than 100 .

For example, if you have a percent written as a mixed number like 4 1 2 % , you can convert to a decimal first. Then, since you have one decimal place, use a denominator of 1000 instead of 100 .

4 1 2 % = 4.5 % = 45 1000 = 9 5 200 5 = 9 200

Example 1:

Write 1 3 % as a fraction in lowest terms.

This may seem confusing, since 1 3 % already looks like a fraction. But remember that % means "divided by 100 ", just as always:

1 3 % = ( 1 3 ) 100 = 1 300