🧱 See It
Remember the 100-square grid: 10 rows of 10, and percent just says how many squares are colored in. But what happens at the edges of that idea?
Smaller than one square: a bank account might pay 0.5% interest — less than half of just one of those 100 squares. It's a real percent, just a tiny sliver of the grid.
More than the whole grid: if something grows by 150%, that's more than all 100 squares — you need the whole first grid plus half of a second grid to show it.
✏️ Draw It
Two 100-square grids, side by side, show 150%: the first grid is completely colored (100%), and the second grid is half colored (50%).
First grid: fully colored = 100%. Second grid: half colored = 50%. Together: 100% + 50% = 150%.
🔢 Write It
The conversion rule never changes: drop the "%" and divide by 100.
0.5% = 0.5 ÷ 100 = 0.005
150% = 150 ÷ 100 = 1.5
💡 Worked Examples
Example 1 — Find 0.5% of $200
- Turn the percent into a decimal:
0.5% = 0.005 - Multiply:
0.005 × 200 = 1.00 - Answer: $1.00
Example 2 — Find 150% of 40
- Turn the percent into a decimal:
150% = 1.5 - Multiply:
1.5 × 40 = 60 - Answer: 60
🧠 Quick Reference
0.005). Above 100%? The decimal is bigger than 1 (1.5).