Expert: Paul Klarreich - 5/2/2006

Question
I dont get how to do these problems they are very confusing. can u show me how to do one...lets say...

Find 26% of 119.

Answer
Hi, Jennifer,

Subject:  Percent Equation
Question:  I dont get how to do these problems they are very confusing. can u show me how to do one...lets say...

Find 26% of 119
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The key is to understand exactly what you are looking at:

26% means  26 hundredths. In other words, it's a fraction.

To find a fraction of something, you multiply.  When you see "of", it means "times".

So you want  26/100 times 119.  To multiply some number by a fraction, you multiply the number by the numerator (26) and then divide by the denominator, 100.  (You can do it the other way, too.  Divide first, then multiply.)

So take out your calculator and do 26 times 199.  Then divide by 100.