Percentage Calculator

Use this calculator to find percentage of a whole or work out the percentage given numbers and percent values. See how to use percent formulas to calculate percentages and find unknowns in percent equations.

Understanding Percentage

We see percentages everywhere — in shopping discounts, exam scores, interest rates, tip calculations, statistics, and even food labels. Percentages help us understand proportions and compare values.

So it’s important to know what percentages are and how to calculate them. With this knowledge you have the power to analyze real-world scenarios in our data-driven society.

What is a Percentage?

A percentage is part of a whole. It is a way to express a number as a fraction of 100, and it is denoted using the percent symbol %.

Calculating percentage allows you to compare ratios when sets are different sizes. If you see an example of 25% it means 25 out of 100, or a quarter of the whole.

Likewise 50% means 50 out of 100, or half of the whole. Percentages can help you understand relative amounts when dealing with different scales or population sizes.

For example, according to Mars, Inc. 20% of the M&M’s in a bag of milk chocolate M&M’s should be orange. Whether the bag is the standard small 1.69 oz or a large 3 lb bag, regardless of the number of candies in the bag, 20% of them, or 20 out of 100, should be orange.