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Mathematics vocabulary · Numbers and Operations

Percentage

Meaning in mathematics, with examples

/pərˈsentɪdʒ/nounCore term

In mathematics, percentage means: An amount expressed as a number out of 100 and written with the sign %; for example, 25% means 25 out of every 100.

In Turkish: yüzde, yüzdelik oran

How it is used

You calculate, find, express or convert a percentage. 'Percent' follows a number ('15 percent'), while 'percentage' is used without one ('a high percentage'). A change from 10% to 12% is a rise of 2 percentage points, but a 20 percent increase.

Example sentences

  1. What percentage of the students passed the exam?

  2. Express 18 out of 24 as a percentage.

Common collocations

  • calculate a percentage
  • express as a percentage
  • percentage increase
  • percentage decrease
  • percentage point
  • ratioA comparison of two or more quantities that shows how big one is compared with the other, written like 3:2 and read 'three to two'.
  • fractionA number that shows part of a whole, written as one number over another, such as ¾, where 3 is the numerator and 4 is the denominator.
  • decimal pointThe dot that separates the whole-number part of a number from its decimal part, as in 3.75; English uses a point where Turkish uses a comma.
  • roundTo replace a number with a simpler value close to it, to a given place value or number of decimal places; 3.476 rounded to one decimal place is 3.5.

More terms: Numbers and Operations

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