Percent Increase and Decrease: To calculate a percent increase, use the formula: ((New Value - Original Value) / Original Value) * 100. To calculate a percent decrease, use the formula: ((Original Value - New Value) / Original Value) * 100.
Practice Problems
1. Convert 0.6 to a percentage.
Answer: 0.6 * 100 = 60%
2. Convert 3/4 to a percentage.
Answer: (3/4) * 100 = 75%
3. Calculate the percent increase if a $50 item is now selling for $65.
Answer: ((65 - 50) / 50) * 100 = 30%
4. Calculate the percent decrease if the temperature drops from 80°F to 68°F.
Answer: ((80 - 68) / 80) * 100 = 15%
Summary
Understanding percentages is an essential skill in mathematics. By mastering the conversion between percentages, decimals, and fractions, as well as the calculation of percent increase and decrease, you will be able to apply this knowledge to a wide range of real-world problems.
Number and Operations: In grade 4, students used equivalent fractions to determine the decimal representations of fractions that they could represent with terminating decimals. Students now use division to express any fraction as a decimal, including fractions that they must represent with infinite decimals. They find this method useful when working with proportions, especially those involving percents. Students connect their work with dividing fractions to solving equations of the form ax = b, where a and b are fractions. Students continue to develop their understanding of multiplication and division and the structure of numbers by determining if a counting number greater than 1 is a prime, and if it is not, by factoring it into a product of primes.