Solution: 21/59 as a percent is 35.593%
Methods
Method 1 – Converting 21/59 Into a Percentage:
First, let’s go over what a fraction represents. The number above the line is called the numerator, while the number below the line is called the denominator. The fraction shows how many portions of the number there are, in relation to how many would make up the whole. For instance, in the fraction 21/59, we could say that the value is 21 portions, out of a possible 59 portions to make up the whole.
For percentages, the difference is that we want to know how many portions there are if there are 100 portions possible. “Percent” means “per hundred”. For example, if we look at the percentage 25%, that means we have 25 portions of the possible 100 portions. Re-writing this in fraction form, we see 25/100.
The first step in converting a fraction to a percentage is to adjust the fraction so that the denominator is 100. To do this, you first divide 100 by the denominator:
100
59
=
1.695
\frac{100}{59} = 1.695
59 100 = 1.695
We can then adjust the whole fraction using this number, like so:
21
∗
1.695
59
∗
1.695
=
35.593
100
\frac{21*1.695}{59*1.695} = \frac{35.593}{100}
59 ∗ 1.695 21 ∗ 1.695 = 100 35.593
Reading this as a fraction, we can say that we have 35.593 portions of a possible 100 portions.
Re-writing this as a percentage, we can see that 21/59 as a percentage is 35.593%
Method 2 – Converting 21/59 Into a Percentage Using Decimals:
Another way we can convert 21/59 into a percentage is to first convert 21/59 into a decimal. We can do this by simply dividing the numerator by the denominator:
21
59
=
0.356
\frac{21}{59} = 0.356
59 21 = 0.356
Once we have the answer, we can multiply the new decimal by 100 to get the percentage:
0.356 × 100 = 35.593
As you can see, we get the same answer as the first method and find that 21/59 as a percentage is 35.593%.
Now you know of two different ways to convert 21/59 into a percentage! While converting using a decimal takes fewer steps, you first need to master converting fractions into decimals. Try out both methods and see which one works best for you!
Practice more percentage problems!
Practice makes perfect so why not check out some of other problems where you can convert a fraction to a percentage?
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