Percentages were challenging when you were in school. Sitting in a math period, pencil in hand, you’d probably wonder about the “non-existent” reason to study them. But now that you’re here reading this blog, you very well know that the “non-existent” reasons exist and are not one but many.
One of those reasons is discount prices. I mean, if there’s a discount on your favorite store, of course, you’d want to calculate it! So, in this blog, we’re going to help you calculate 15% off a price.
For some additional knowledge, we’ll also tell you about the common mistakes to avoid when calculating percentages as well as some tricks to speed up the process!
How to Calculate 15% of a Price?
To calculate any percent of a number, you take that percent (the part), divide it by 100, and multiply the answer by the number the percent of which you want to find out (the whole).
Suppose you want to calculate 15% of 200. In this case, 15% is the part and 200 is the whole. You will divide 15 by 100 and multiply the answer by 200. You will get 30, which is 15% off the number 200.
Here’s the step-by-step calculation:
- Divide 15 by 100.
If you divide 15 by 100, you get 0.15
=15/100
=0.15 - Multiply the answer by 200.
Now, multiply the answer, i.e., 0.15 by 200 (aka the number whose percentage you want to find out). So,
=0.15 x 200
= 30
And that’s your answer, 15% of 200 is 30. This means that if you’re about to buy something that costs $200 and has a 15% discount, you’ll get $30 off!
A quick recap:
Divide the percentage by 100, and multiply the answer by the number you want to find the percentage of!
Common Mistakes to Avoid While Calculating Percentages
Calculating percentages can be tricky and quite confusing, to say the least, and people end up making many different mistakes when calculating them. We’ve listed some of the common mistakes you should avoid:
- Misidentifying the part and whole
It’s common to confuse part and whole. For example, if you’re supposed to calculate 20% of 45, you might confuse 20 as the whole and 45 as the part, leading you to calculate 45% of 20! - Not converting percentages to decimals by dividing
Just like we did in the first step, conversion to decimals is important by dividing by 100. The decimal value is easier to work with and helps avoid confusion that may come with the percentage sign. Many people forget this step! - Moving decimals in the wrong direction
If you use the decimal adjustment technique instead of division, make sure to move the decimal in the right direction. It’s a pretty common mistake!
For percentage to decimal, move the point two places to the left.
For decimal to percentage, move the point two places to the right.
Tips to Speed-up Your Calculations
Now that you know how to calculate percentages and your discounts, we’re going to equip you with some tips that’ll help you conclude this process faster.
- Memorize Common Percentages
Most discounts are usually numbers in tens e.g. 20, 40, 70 etc. Memorizing the decimals to these percentages helps you speed up the calculation by skipping the percentage conversion step - Use Multiples of 10
When calculating larger discounts such as 70% or 80%, you can start by calculating 10% of the number and then add up to the said discount percentage. For example to calculate 80% of 500, calculate 10% of 500 i.e. 50 and multiply it by 8. It’ll give the same answer as 80% of 500.
Conclusion
Not knowing the calculation of discounts when you’re standing at your favorite store, especially when so many people are looking to buy that discounted product, can be a bit stressful. Well, you’re lucky cause we fixed that problem for you. With a bit of practice and using the tips we’ve provided for you; you’ll be calculating discounts in seconds! Happy Shopping!