Understand How to Use Percentages to Calculate Discounts

Everyone loves the sales, right! But how much of a bargain are you getting? 

In this activity, we will learn how to calculate the value of the discount a shop is offering on different items.

You may well be used to finding simple percentages by finding 10% first.

For example, to find 40% of £72, you first find 10% which is 7.2

40% will be 7.2 x 4 = 28.8

So 40% of £72 = £28.80

Sometimes you might need to find a more complicated percentage. It is therefore important to know a different method which can be used to find any percentage and this is the method shown below.

This shop is offering a 35% discount on all its prices.     

Example

Let's say you go crazy and pick up £701 worth of toys. To find the discount, we want to know 35% of £701. This is how we write this:

So the 35% discount would be £245.35. That's a pretty good saving! 

To find out what we'd actually pay, we would do £701 - £245.35 = £455.65. 

Let's look at another one. What would the discount on £546 worth of toys be? 

We'd save £191.10 in this example.

You can use your calculator in this activity to help you find the answers.

Let's get shopping!