# How to compare fractions, decimals and percentages

## What are percentages?

Per means "out of", cent means "100".

You might have seen "cent" as part of "centimetre". A centrimetre is one hundredth of a metre.

Percent means "out of 100" and percentages are shown with the symbol %

So when you see something written as % that means it is a number out of 100.

For example 30% is 30 out of 100.

## Percentages and fractions.

Percentages are a bit like fractions with the number of percent on top and 100 underneath.

So 30% is the same as 30/100.

You can sometimes make fractions easier to work with by dividing top and bottom by the same amount.

30 and 100 both divide by 10, so 30/100 = 3/10

Decimals (or decimal fractions) are written using numbers and a dot. Numbers to the left of the dot are whole numbers.

In 3.0 the 3 just means 3.

Numbers to the right of the dot are parts of a number.

The number one space after the dot is that many tenths of one, so these are like tenths

### For example

0.2 is the same as 2/10

0.5 is the same as 5/10

The number two spaces after the dot is that many hundredths of one.

### For example

0.04 is the same as 4/100

0.07 is the same as 7/100