Okay, so I wanted to figure out what 45% of 20 is. It’s one of those things that pops up in daily life, like calculating a tip or figuring out a discount. I wasn’t sure the quickest way to do it, so I just started messing around.
My First Try: The Long Way
First, I remembered that “percent” means “out of 100”. So, 45% is the same as 45/100. I typed that into my calculator.
- 45 / 100 = 0.45
Then I knew I needed to multiply that by 20. I did that:
- 0.45 20 = 9
So, that seemed to work. 45% of 20 is 9.
Trying a Shortcut
Then I thought, could be faster way? and I remembered to convert 45% to a decimal. I thought I am able to get it directly by moving the decimal point two places to the left.
- 45% becomes 0.45
I quickly multiplied that by 20 on my phone’s calculator app.
- 0.45 20 = 9
Yep, still 9! It is so easy!
Double-Checking with Fractions
Just to be sure,I thought to do it with fractions, because why not? I knew 45% is the same as 45/100. I also remembered I could simplify that fraction. I divided both top and bottom by 5:
- 45 / 5 = 9
- 100 / 5 = 20
- So, 45/100 simplifies to 9/20
Then I multiplied this fraction by 20:
- (9/20) 20 = 9
I got 9 again! It’s pretty cool that all these different ways gave me the same answer. Now I feel like I can calculate percentages of any numbers!
