PERCENTAGE 



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PERCENTAGE 



ITHE STORY OF PERCENTAGE 



.ERCENTAGE , the process of computing by 

 hundreds. The word is derived from the Latin 

 per, meaning by, and centum, meaning hun- 

 dred. The symbol for per cent is %. 



The business world and the scientific world 

 use per cent to express the number relations in 

 which they are interested, instead of using the 

 common fraction, halves, thirds, fourths, etc. 

 This is not altogether a modern innovation, 

 for we find that percentage was in use in cen- 

 turies past. In the seventeenth century, for 

 instance, LaSalle, in his early settlement in 

 Canada, took "6 measures out of every 100 

 measures" sent to him, which he had ground 

 at the mill. So many out of 100 has seemed 

 a simple method of designating parts. To- 

 day it is the general method of keeping rec- 

 ords of scientific experiments, business ventures, 

 and tests for efficiency in all lines. Thus we find 

 expressed in per cents the humidity of the 

 atmosphere, the relative values of foods, the 

 proportions of materials in soils, the relative 

 value of money investments, the relative 

 efficiency of men as workers, and of teams as 

 ball players, results of sociological research, 

 birth rates, statistics as to fatalities resulting 

 from various diseases, death rates, etc. 



Illustrative Examples. A young man spent 

 $100 for a vacation trip. He paid $27 for 

 railroad fare; $13 

 for steamer fare; 

 $6 for meals while 

 traveling; a $34 

 hotel bill; S3 for 

 transfer of bag- 

 gage ; $2 for read- 

 ing matter ; $5 

 for taxi fares, and 

 $10 for amuse- 

 ments. 



He spent $27 

 out of $100, or 2 %oo, or 27 per cent, of his 

 money for railroad fare. He spent $13 out of 

 $100, or 1 %oo, or 13 per cent, of his money for 



steamer fare, 

 lows: 



This may be tabulated as fol- 



Railroad fare = 21% of $100 



Steamer fare 

 Meal bill 

 Hotel bill 

 Baggage bill 

 Reading bill 

 Taxi bill 



= 13% of $100 



= 6% of $100 



= 34% of $100 



3% of $100 



= 2% of $100 



= 5% of $100 



Amusement bill = 10% of $100 



100% of $100 



Finding Any Per Cent of a Number. Find 

 1% of the following: $600; $300; $1500; 900 

 miles; 12,000 feet; 1600 bushels. 



Find 2% of each of the above; find 7% of 

 each. 



1% of $600 = $6.00 = $6 



2% of $600 = 2X$6 = $12 



1% of* 900 mi. -9. 00 mi. = 9 mi. 



7% of 900 mi. = 63 mi. 



To find one per cent oj a number, divide it 

 by 100. Do this in the shortest way, which is 

 to move the decimal point two places to the 

 left. 



Find 1% of the following: 1250, 730, 280, 175, 

 125, 936, 24, 16, 8, 3, 11.5, 12.65, .84, 96, 7. 



Find 8% of each of the above. 



1% of 1250 = 12.50 = 12.5 



8% of 1250 = 8X12. 5 = 100./f 



1% of 24 = . 24 



8% of 24 = 8X.24 = 1.92 



1% of 3 = .03 



8% of 3 = .24 



1% of 11.5 = . 115 



8% of 11.5 = 8X.H5 = .92/ 



1% of .84 = . 0084 



8% of .84 = 8X. 0084 = . 0672 



To find any per cent of a number move the 

 decimal point two places to the left and mul- 

 tiply by the number denoting the per cent to 

 be found ; or multiply by the number denoting 

 the per cent, and point off the product, thus: 



6% of 725 = n; 12% of 8.3=n 



725 8.3 



.06 .12 



43.50 .996 



