Solution: 17/80 as a percent is 21.25%
Methods
Method 1 – Converting 17/80 Into a Percentage:
First, let’s go over what a fraction represents. The number above the line is called the numerator, while the number below the line is called the denominator. The fraction shows how many portions of the number there are, in relation to how many would make up the whole. For instance, in the fraction 17/80, we could say that the value is 17 portions, out of a possible 80 portions to make up the whole.
For percentages, the difference is that we want to know how many portions there are if there are 100 portions possible. “Percent” means “per hundred”. For example, if we look at the percentage 25%, that means we have 25 portions of the possible 100 portions. Re-writing this in fraction form, we see 25/100.
The first step in converting a fraction to a percentage is to adjust the fraction so that the denominator is 100. To do this, you first divide 100 by the denominator:
100
80
=
1.25
\frac{100}{80} = 1.25
80 100 = 1.25
We can then adjust the whole fraction using this number, like so:
17
∗
1.25
80
∗
1.25
=
21.25
100
\frac{17*1.25}{80*1.25} = \frac{21.25}{100}
80 ∗ 1.25 17 ∗ 1.25 = 100 21.25
Reading this as a fraction, we can say that we have 21.25 portions of a possible 100 portions.
Re-writing this as a percentage, we can see that 17/80 as a percentage is 21.25%
Method 2 – Converting 17/80 Into a Percentage Using Decimals:
Another way we can convert 17/80 into a percentage is to first convert 17/80 into a decimal. We can do this by simply dividing the numerator by the denominator:
17
80
=
0.212
\frac{17}{80} = 0.212
80 17 = 0.212
Once we have the answer, we can multiply the new decimal by 100 to get the percentage:
0.212 × 100 = 21.25
As you can see, we get the same answer as the first method and find that 17/80 as a percentage is 21.25%.
Now you know of two different ways to convert 17/80 into a percentage! While converting using a decimal takes fewer steps, you first need to master converting fractions into decimals. Try out both methods and see which one works best for you!
Practice more percentage problems!
Practice makes perfect so why not check out some of other problems where you can convert a fraction to a percentage?
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