ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


Percents Videos 20 videos

Percents and Proportions
4515 Views

Looking to con someone out of 40% of a pizza? You've come to the right place. Just don't try that on us.

Converting Percents to Decimals
2408 Views

Converting percents to decimals is easy: just move the decimal point two to the left. Yep, that's it. To the left, to the left... convertin' th...

Word Problems with Percents
659 Views

If the value of a painting increases by 15 percent every year, what was it worth 5 years ago? Hold up: why would you want to sell it now? In a few...

See All

Converting Percents to Decimals 2408 Views


Share It!


Description:

Converting percents to decimals is easy: just move the decimal point two to the left. Yep, that's it. To the left, to the left... convertin' those decimals into percents .

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:07

Converting Decimals, Percents, and Fractions, a la Shmoop.

00:11

You could think of decimals, percents, and fractions as three different languages for

00:15

numbers. Naturally, you sometimes need to translate

00:17

from one language to another. And lucky you, we’re here to help.

00:21

This is where conversion comes in. Conversion is the time-honored Western tradition

00:26

of forcing others to believe exactly the same things that you do.

00:30

Actually, we’re talking about converting one “language” of a number into another.

00:35

For example, your “friend” got detention two out of five days this week.

00:39

That scenario could be expressed as a fraction. Or it could be expressed as a frantic exclamation,

00:45

as in: <<DS voice>> “My parents are going to kill me!”

00:49

Or we could turn it into a percentage, by calculating how many detentions your friend

00:53

is on pace for over the course of 100 days. Remember, percent really means “per hundred.”

01:00

Five times twenty equals one hundred, so we also multiply two times twenty, which equals

01:05

forty. Now we have forty over one hundred, or forty

01:09

percent. That 40% detention rate could also be expressed

01:12

as 40 point zero percent. When you start listing your detention percentage

01:17

with a decimal point, it may be a wake up call to get some help.

01:21

To convert forty percent into a decimal, we simply move the decimal point two places to

01:26

the left. This gives us the decimal zero point four.

01:29

Great batting average. So two-fifths equals forty percent equals

01:34

zero point four. Let’s try a quick drill.

01:37

What percent is zero point nine? Ninety percent. Good free throw percentage

01:42

for basketball. Bad survival rate for appendectomies. Now let’s turn it into a fraction.

01:48

Since percent means per hundred, we know ninety percent is really ninety out of one hundred.

01:53

We can reduce it to make everything nice and neat.

01:57

Ninety and one hundred can both be divided by ten, giving us nine-tenths.

02:02

Are you fluent in decimals, percents, and fractions yet?

02:04

Don’t worry if you’re only 50% of the way there.

02:16

In that case, you only have 60% more to go. Wait…

Related Videos

SAT Math 10.3 Geometry and Measurement
3336 Views

SAT Math 10.3 Geometry and Measurement. What is the ratio of birds to dogs?

SAT Math 2.1 Statistics and Probability
343 Views

SAT Math 2.1 Statistics and Probability. Which two items have the highest protein to fat ratio?

SAT Math 2.2 Statistics and Probability
242 Views

SAT Math 2.2 Statistics and Probability. What percent of her recommended daily intake of 2000 calories did she consume?

SAT Math 4.2 Statistics and Probability
234 Views

SAT Math 4.2 Statistics and Probability

SAT Math 4.4 Geometry and Measurement
210 Views

SAT Math 4.4 Geometry and Measurement