What Is The Usefulness Of Percentage?

Numbers can be represented by many ways. Whole numbers, proper fractions, improper fractions, decimal number are some examples.

In this post, I like to share information about fractions and percentage.

What is their difference(s)?

Fraction is a ratio of 2 integers. Examples are 3/4, 14/5 and 12/3. It is a way of comparing parts of an item to its complete whole.

How about percentage? Percentage is represented by "%". Example is 30%. It means that out of a complete 100 units, there exists 30 units. It is a form of ratio also.

But why use percentage when fraction is good enough?

The answer lies in that percentage is more convenient when used for comparison . Let's see an example.

Given 3 fractions: 3/7, 4/9, and 14 / 25. Can you tell which fraction is the biggest straight away?

It would be tough, right? This is due to the fact that the base or denominator is not equal or the same.

Now given the above in percentage: 42.86%, 44.44%, and 56%. Can you tell which is the biggest?

The answer is a definite YES. Why?

The base is now converted to a common 100 units across all the given numbers in question.

The usefulness of percentage is obvious now, right?

Enjoy maths :)
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