Per Cent
Learn what percentage means: out of 100 equal parts!
1. What is Per Cent?
Per cent means "out of 100"
When a whole is divided into 100 equal parts, each part is of the whole.
Visual representation:
1 shaded square out of 100 = 1%
= 1%
1% is read as "1 per cent"
% is the symbol for "per cent"
= 100% = the whole
2. Reading Percentages from Grids
Example: Finding shaded and unshaded percentages
35 squares shaded:
= 35% shaded
100% − 35% = 65% unshaded
12 squares shaded:
= 12% shaded
100% − 12% = 88% unshaded
💡 Key Idea:
Shaded % + Unshaded % = 100% (the whole)
3. Simple Percentage Word Problems
When the whole is 100
Example 1:
100 people attended a concert. There were 62 adults and 38 children.
(a) What percentage of the audience were adults?
= 62% were adults
(b) What percentage of the audience were children?
= 38% were children
Example 2:
Mdm Lee has 100 picture books and storybooks altogether. She has 20 picture books. What percentage of the books are storybooks?
Number of storybooks = 100 − 20 = 80
= 80% of the books are storybooks
Practice Problems
Practice 1: Shaded Squares
If 25 squares out of 100 are shaded, what percentage is shaded? What percentage is unshaded?
ShowHide solution
Shaded: = 25%
Unshaded: 100% − 25% = 75%
Practice 2: Word Problem
There are 100 marbles in a bag. 47 are red and the rest are blue. What percentage of the marbles are blue?
ShowHide solution
Number of blue marbles = 100 − 47 = 53
= 53% of the marbles are blue
Practice 3: Converting to Percentage
Express 100 out of 100 as a percentage.
ShowHide solution
= 100%
100% represents the whole!
Key Takeaways
- Per cent means "out of 100"
- % is the symbol for per cent
- = 1%, = 100%
- Shaded % + Unshaded % = 100%
- When the whole is 100, finding percentage is simple: just use the number as the %!