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Percentage | Kerala PSC LDC
- Fact 1 of 8📐
Percent means 'per hundred'
'Percent' comes from the Latin 'per centum', meaning out of 100. So 45% means 45 out of every 100, or 45/100. To convert a fraction, multiply by 100: 1/8 = 12.5%.
- Fact 2 of 8📈
Finding percentage increase
Percentage increase = (increase / original) × 100. For example, a price rising from 40 to 50 is an increase of 10, so 10/40 × 100 = 25%.
- Fact 3 of 8🔍
Working backwards from a percentage
If 20% of a number is 50, the number is 50 × 100/20 = 250. Shortcut: divide the given value by the percentage and multiply by 100.
- Fact 4 of 8🔄
A 10% rise then a 10% fall
If a value rises 10% and then falls 10%, it ends at 99% of the original, a net loss of 1%. Example: 100 → 110 → 99. Successive changes do not cancel out exactly.
- Fact 5 of 8🏷️
Two discounts are not added
Successive discounts of 20% and then 10% give a net discount of 28%, not 30%. Example: 100 → 80 → 72. Multiply the remaining fractions: 0.8 × 0.9 = 0.72.
- Fact 6 of 8🧮
Reverse of 'x% more than'
If A is 25% more than B, then B is 20% less than A. Example: B = 100 gives A = 125, and 25 is 20% of 125. The base changes, so the percentages differ.
- Fact 7 of 8✖️
Percentage of a percentage
10% of 50% of 200 equals 10. Multiply the percentages as fractions: 0.1 × 0.5 × 200 = 10. The order of the percentages does not change the result.
- Fact 8 of 8🎯
Percentage of a total in exam questions
To find what percent one part is of a whole, use (part / whole) × 100. For example, if 36 out of 120 candidates passed, the pass percentage is 36/120 × 100 = 30%.
