Today, I wanted to figure out a quick way to calculate percentages. Specifically, I needed to find out what 20% of 500 is. I grabbed my phone and opened up the calculator app.
First, I tried typing in “20% of 500,” but that didn’t work. The calculator just stared back at me, not giving me an answer. Okay, so I needed a different approach.
I remembered that percentages are basically fractions out of 100. So, 20% is the same as 20/100. I also know that “of” in math problems usually means multiplication.
My Calculation Steps:
- I decided to convert the percentage to a decimal. I did this by dividing 20 by 100, which gave me 0.20.
- Then, I multiplied this decimal by the number I was working with: 0. 20 times 500.
- I punched that into my calculator: 0.20 500 =.
And there it was! The answer popped up on the screen: 100. I did it,simple and easy!