20 % of 20,000 is 4,000. Quite simply, multiplying the 20,000 by 20 and dividing by 100 works out 20% of any number. To explain this in a little more detail:
So for example, a workshop receives an order to complete 100 tasks over a 2-week period. After the first week, only 40 tasks have been completed. This equates to 40 percent, so the workshop bosses will know that a higher number of people will have to work on the orders remaining to complete the order in time, as there will still be 60 percent of the order to do.
The word percent can be written in a number of ways:
- The division by 100 is important in the calculation as 'percent' literally means a fraction of 100, so whenever somebody is working out a percentage of a certain number, the number should always be multiplied by the percentage that is being looked for, and the subsequent answer should be divided by 100.
- Another example of this would be is we were looking for five percent of 400. To start with we would multiply the two numbers given together, so 5 multiplied by 400 = 2,000. Then use 100 to give the percentage, so 2,000 divided by 100 equals 20. The answer is therefore 20 %.
Percentages are effectively used to compare the quantities of two numbers as a fraction. The calculation is often used to compare the two numbers to ascertain performance in certain areas.
So for example, a workshop receives an order to complete 100 tasks over a 2-week period. After the first week, only 40 tasks have been completed. This equates to 40 percent, so the workshop bosses will know that a higher number of people will have to work on the orders remaining to complete the order in time, as there will still be 60 percent of the order to do.
The word percent can be written in a number of ways:
- The American way of writing it is as one word, percent
- The British way is as two words, per cent.
- The symbol for percent is %, and this is recognized the world over.
