Now You Know #5

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Often times I find that people have difficulty determining percentages. But it is actually really easy to do, and can be quite useful to be able to do so for a variety of reasons. I find it useful in a multitude of areas. So, how do you do it? Let's say you bought a dozen of eggs last week for $1.99 and this week they are $2.79 and you want to know how much of an increase that is as a percentage. You simply divide $2.79 by $1.99 and you come up with 1.40. Drop the one and count the two numbers past the decimal point and you get 40%. Your eggs are costing 40% more than they did one week ago. Or, let's say you get your energy bill this month and it's only $300, but last month it was $352. You want to know how much you saved. You subtract 352 minus 300 and then divide that value by 352 (the original number) then multiply by 100. You get 14.77. Your bill went down by 14.8%. 352 minus 300 equals 52 divided by 352 equals 0.1477 times 100 equals 14.77. It is helpful when shopping discounts as well. Let's say something is priced at $19.99 but the sign says you can take 15% off at the register. Simply subtract 15 from 100 and get 85. Add a decimal point and calculate $19.99 times 0.85. You get $16.99. That's what you will pay after the discount. Maybe you already knew how to do this. But if you didn't... Now you know.