The fraction ½ can be written in several equivalent ways.
This shows that ½ = 1 ÷ 2 = 0.5
0.5 is the same as 0.50 and 0.500 and 0.5000 etc.
½ of 100 = 100 ÷ 2 = 50, so ½ can also be written as 50%.
So ½ = 0.5 = 50%
It's important to know the following simple equivalences:
| Fraction | Decimal | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | 0.5 | 50% |
| 1/4 | 0.25 | 25% |
| 3/4 | 0.75 | 75% |
| 1/5 | 0.2 | 20% |
| 1/10 | 0.1 | 10% |
| 1/100 | 0.01 | 1% |
You should also be able to work out multiples of fifths, tenths and hundredths.
Example
7/10 Remember that the first digit after the decimal point is the tenths column. So, this is the same as 0.7
To convert that to a percentage, we multiply it by 100 = 70%
7/10 = 0.7 = 70%
8/100 Remember that the second digit after the decimal point is the hundredths, so this is the same as 0.08
To convert that to a percentage, we multiply by 100 = 8%
8/100 = 0.08 = 8%
3/5 We first need to convert this to tenths by multiplying both the numerator and denominator by 2 = 6/10
Now we can write 6/10 as 0.6
We convert this to a percentage by multiplying by 100 = 60%
3/5 = 0.6 = 60%
Shall we try some questions now?
