Math 7 · Unit 2, Lesson 1: What Percent Means · Tile 1 of 3

Per Cent Means Per Hundred

The everyday word inside percent

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Percent shows up everywhere: grades, sales, phone batteries. Today we find out what it really means.

Cent

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Root word: cent. From Latin centum, one hundred. A cent is one hundredth of a dollar. A century is 100 years. A centipede is a bug with (supposedly) 100 legs.

So per cent is per hundred: for every 100. When a tax is 7 percent, you pay 7 cents on every dollar, because a dollar is 100 cents.

per cent = per hundred = out of 100

30 out of 100

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Here are 100 squares. 30 of them are shaded. That is 30 out of 100, which is 30 percent, written 30%. As a fraction it is 30 over 100.

100 squares, 30 shaded: 30 out of 100, or 30%.

30% = 30100 = 30 out of every 100

ElleMath-speak

Percent means per hundred: 30 percent equals 30 over 100.

FinnPlain English

30 percent means 30 out of every 100.

Shade your own

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Tap squares to shade them. The readout counts how many out of 100 are shaded, which is the percent. Try shading 45. Then shade 100. Then shade 1.

Let me try a few

NC standards: NC.7.RP.3.

Where to go next

Let me try a few5 problems on per Cent Means Per Hundred. Next: Tile 2, Three Ways to Write ItPercent, fraction, and decimal All tilesAll 3 parts of this lesson. Tell us what you thought about this tileA few quick questions about just this tile. It takes a few minutes, and opens in a new tab so you keep your place.