Suppose a business donates 1% of its profits to charity each year. How much would it donate if it made $7,500 in profits?

To find 1% of 7,500, we can multiply 7,500 by $\frac{1}{100}$ or 0.01.

What if the business donates 6% of its profits to charity? Because 6% of 7,500 is 6 times as much as 1% of 7,500, we can calculate $6 \boldcdot \frac{1}{100} \boldcdot 7,500$ or $\frac{6}{100} \boldcdot 7,500$.

The same reasoning can help us find 1%, 6%, and other percentages of another number:

• To find 1% of a number, we can multiply that number by $\frac{1}{100}$ or 0.01.
• To find 6% of a number, we can multiply the number by $\frac{6}{100}$ or 0.06.
• To find 49% of a number, we can multiply the number by $\frac{49}{100}$ or 0.49.
• To find 135% of a number, we can multiply the number by $\frac{135}{100}$ or 1.35.

In general, to find $P\%$ of any number, $x$, we can calculate: $\frac{P}{100}\boldcdot x$.