Math Is Fun Forum

notsobright

Member

Registered: 2008-10-19

Posts: 3

Got Another Tough One!

About my exam - again!

There were 28 questions in topic one.
What is the percentage if there were 150 questions in the exam?

Topic two - 14 questions
What is the percentage if there were 150 questions in the exam?

Topic three - 27 out of 150?
Topic four - 4 out of 150?
Topic five - 39 out of 150?
Topic six - 8 out of 150?
Topic seven - 9 out of 150?
Topic eight - 21 out of 150?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

All_Is_Number

Member

Registered: 2006-07-10

Posts: 258

Re: Got Another Tough One!

It appears that you're having a little bit of trouble with percentages.

Let's briefly examine the word percent.

Per indicates division.

Cent is from the Latin word centum, meaning hundred.

Thus, percent literally means "divide by 100."

For example, 50% = 50÷100 = 50/100 = 0.5.

When 50% is expressed as 0.5, we typically refer to it as a proportion. This applies to any percentage, not just 50% (i.e. 13% = 0.13).

To find the proportion of your exam that consists of questions from topic 3, we take the number of questions in topic 3, 27, and divide by the total number of questions on the exam, 150.

27 ÷ 150 or 27/150  <-- they mean the same thing

To convert the proportion to a percentage, we simply multiply the proportion by 100. This is most easily done by moving the decimal point two places to the right.

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You can shear a sheep many times but skin him only once.

notsobright

Member

Registered: 2008-10-19

Posts: 3

Re: Got Another Tough One!

THANK YOU - that explains so much!