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Introducing the percentage tool

What are percentages?

Per cent' means ‘out of a hundred'.
When you think about percentages, imagine something divided into a hundred parts.
5% is a quick way of saying ‘5 out a hundred parts'.
If you divide £1 into hundred parts, each part is 1p. 5 of these parts are 5p. So 5% of £1 is 5p.
If you divide £100 into a hundred parts, each part is £1. 5 of these parts equal £5. So 5% of £100 is £5.
Now imagine you have £200 and want to find out what 5% of that is. If you divide £200 into a hundred parts, each part is £2. 5 of these parts equal 5 x £2, or £ 10. So 5% of £200 is £10.
Some percentages are used a lot and are easier to remember. 50% is the same as a half. 25% is a quarter. 10% is one tenth.
You can use this information to work out some percentages very quickly.

Getting to know the percentage tool

You will get the most out of the percentage tool if you understand all of its features.
Click the percentage tool on the toolbar near the top of screen and try it out for yourself.
See what happens when you type numbers into the boxes at the bottom. See what happens when you move the slider.
When you click somewhere else on the screen the percentage tool will hide behind the topic window. If you can see it at the edge of the screen, click on it and it will come to the front again. If you cannot see it, you can open it again quickly by clicking the percentage tool icon at the top of the screen. You will not have lost what you are working on.

Using the percentage tool

Try using the percentage tool to solve some problems.
Sometimes you will be offered a discount of a certain percentage.
For example, you may be offered 15% off. This means that you will pay 15% less than the full price.
Another way to think of this is that you will pay 100 - 15% (85%) of the full price.