Math
Percents and Ratios
Percentages
Percentages
In how many ways can five percent be written?
• 5%
• .05
•
In how many ways can x percent be written?
• x%
•
Percentages
Substitute “what percent” with
What percent of 86 is 18?
x = 20.93
28 is 16 percent of what number?
x = 175
What is 5% of 185?
x = 9.25
Percentage Increase
If a store raises its price for a shirt from $80 to $90, the
percentage increase is
If a store raises its prices by 5%, then a shirt that originally costs
$80 will now cost
Percentage Decrease
If a store reduces its price for a shirt from $90 to $80, the
percentage decrease is
If a store reduce its prices by 5%, then a shirt that originally costs
$80 will now cost
Example 1
On a math test, 12 students earned an A. This
number is exactly 20% of the total number of
students in the class. How many students are in
the class?
A. 15
B. 16
C. 21
D. 60
Example 2
A shirt, originally $100, is marked up by 20%.
During a sale, customers are given a discount of
20% on the marked price. What will a customer
have to pay to purchase the shirt during the sale?
A. $80
B. $96
C. $100
D. $120
Example 3
A homeowner has a koi pond containing a variety of
fish. If exactly 72 percent of the fish are orange,
which of the following could be the total number of
fish in the koi pond?
A. 18
B. 25
C. 36
D. 72
Example 4
A local college has a total of 7,980 students enrolled
this year. This represents an increase of 5% from
the number of students enrolled in the previous
year. How many students were enrolled in the
previous year?
A. 7,581
B. 7,600
C. 8,379
D. 8,400
Example 5
One mountain peak is particularly challenging even for
experienced mountain climbers. Last year, a total of
300 climbers attempted to reach the summit, but only
25 percent succeeded. This year, the number of
climbers who attempted to reach the summit increased
by 25 percent, but only 24 percent of them succeeded.
Compared to last year, by what percentage has the
number of climbers who succeeded in reaching the
summit changed?
A. A decrease of 4 percent
B. A decrease of 1 percent
C. An increase of 17 percent
D. An increase of 20 percent
Example 6
The chart above shows the 2015 and 2016 median weekly earnings for
Americans over the age of 25 who hold specific types of educational
degrees. To the nearest tenth of a percent, by what percent did the
median weekly earnings of doctoral degree holders increase from 2015
to 2016? (Note: Ignore the percent symbol when entering your answer.
For example, if the answer is 5%, enter 5.)
Example 7
Julia is staying at a hotel that applies a 25% discount
only to the portion of the bill that is over $200.
Julia's total bill after the discount is $350. If x
represents the amount of money that Julia would
have spent without the discount, which of the
following linear equations best models this
situation?
A. 200 + 0.25x = 350
B. 200 + 0.75x = 350
C. 200 + 0.25(x − 200) = 350
D. 200 + 0.75(x − 200) = 350
Example 8
The chart above shows the results of a survey
measuring the number of people per household. If
there are 168 households with 2 people, how many
households have at least 5 people?
252
Example 9
Example 10
Of the 18- to 34-year-olds who reported voting, 500 people were selected at random to do a
follow-up survey where they were asked which candidate they voted for. There were 287
people in this follow-up survey sample who said they voted for Candidate A, and the other 213
people voted for someone else. Using the data from both the follow-up survey and the initial
survey, which of the following is most likely to be an accurate statement?
A) About 123 million people 18 to 34 years old would report voting for Candidate A in the
November 2012 presidential election.
B) About 76 million people 18 to 34 years old would report voting for Candidate A in the
November 2012 presidential election.
C) About 36 million people 18 to 34 years old would report voting for Candidate A in the
November 2012 presidential election.
D) About 17 million people 18 to 34 years old would report voting for Candidate A in the
Ratios
Ratios
A shopkeeper sells candy in 12 or 24 grams packing. If the
average weight of candy he sold was 22 grams, what percent of
12 gram chocolates did he sell?
x = percent of 12 gram chocolates sold
22 = 12x + 24(1-x)
22 = 12x + 24 - 24x
22 = 24-12x
12x =2
x=⅙
Example 11
The graph above shows the amount of gold in four different pieces
of jewelry A, B, C, and D as a percentage of their individual
weights. The costs of jewelry pieces A, B, C, and D are $700, $760,
$870, and $980, respectively. If each piece of jewelry weighs 20
grams, which of the four pieces of jewelry offers the maximum
amount of gold per dollar?
A. Piece A
B. Piece B
C. Piece C
Example 12
A survey asked people if they prefer whole milk,
skim milk, or almond milk. The results of the survey
show that 55 people prefer almond milk and that
the number of people who prefer whole milk is 1.5
times the number of people who prefer skim milk.
If a total of 155 people were surveyed, what is the
ratio of the number of people who prefer whole
milk to those who prefer almond milk?
A. 8 : 11
B. 11 : 8
C. 11:12
D. 12 : 11