Learn to Calculate Base, Rate, and Percentage with Animations

Welcome to understanding percentages! Today we'll explore how percentages work and why they're so useful.At its core, a percentage represents a part of a whole, multiplied by one hundred.Let's visualize this with a simple example of twenty-five out of one hundred dots.When we count these highlighted dots, we see twenty-five out of one hundred, which equals twenty-five percent.Percentages are really just fractions expressed out of one hundred. Let's see how twenty-five percent can be written in different ways.Percentages make it easy to compare different fractions. Let's look at three eighths and five twelfths.Converting decimals to percentages is straightforward. Simply move the decimal point two places right and add the percent symbol.Let's try converting zero point forty-two to a percentage.Moving the decimal point two places right gives us forty-two percent.Now that we understand how percentages work, we're ready to learn more advanced calculations.Now that we understand how to find percentages, let's learn how to find rates and bases from our percentage formula.We can rearrange our formula to solve for either the rate or the base.Let's start by finding a discount rate. Here's a product that was originally eighty dollars, now on sale for sixty dollars.To find the discount rate, we first calculate the discount amount: twenty dollars.Then we divide the discount by the original price and multiply by one hundred to get the percentage.Now let's solve for the original price when we know an item is forty-five dollars after a twenty-five percent discount.We can write this as an equation: forty-five dollars equals the original price times one minus zero point two five.Simplify the parentheses to get forty-five dollars equals the original price times zero point seven five.Finally, divide forty-five by zero point seven five to find the original price of sixty dollars.Let's look at our quick reference guide for percentage calculations.First, let's solve a shopping discount problem.Next, let's calculate sales tax on a purchase.Now, let's look at calculating restaurant tips.Let's try some practice problems.Problem one: Calculate the final price of a shirt after a thirty percent discount.Problem two: Find the original price when given the total with tax.