Percentages sometimes have the effect of sending a shiver down the spine of even the most confident of mathematicians.  However, just think of a percentage as being "simply a fraction with a denominator of 100" and they suddenly become less scary! 

 

This video demonstrates how to find a (relatively simple) percentage of an amount.

Remember that in life we often need to add or subtract a percentage to an amount (for example if we save 10% we need to calculate what 10% is and then subtract that from the original amount).

 

Also bear in mind that if we need to calculate 90% of an amount it would be more efficient to calculate 10% of an amount and then subtract this from the whole amount (100%).

 

Sometimes, percentages are a little more tricky to calculate (usually when they are not a multiple of 10).  However, this method should help you to tackle questions like this.

Remember to always be on the lookout for simple percentages.  For example, to calculate 51% of an amount you would be best to find 50% (which is simply a half) and then calculate what 1% of the amount is (by dividing it by 100) and add these two values together.