Use Fraction, Decimal and Percentage Equivalences

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?