Converting Percent and Decimals

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Converting a Percentage to a Decimal/Decimal to a Percentage

Imagine you have $1.00, do you know how many pennies make a $1.00 bill? The answer is 100 pennies! The number 100 is considered to be the same as having one whole. So when you have 100 pennies, you have enough money for one whole dollar bill. So 100 pennies are 100% of $1.00 or 1.00 .

So if you had 90 pennies you would have $0.90 . Which would be 90 cents. Well 90 cents are actually 90 % (perCENT) of a dollar. A dollar being 100 pennies or one whole, which is the same as 100 percent.

This means that: $0.45 which is 45 cents is the same as 45% (perCENT).

$0.65 which is 65 cents is the same as 65% (perCENT).

$0.17 which is 17 cents is the same as 17% (perCENT).

If you brain can be quirky and switch the word cent to percent in your head then money is a good way to remember how to convert between percents and decimals.

But what if I have 357%? How does that convert back to a decimal? Well, have 357 perCENTS, so how much do you have? 357 cents, which is the same as $3.57 or 3.57 .