Percentages

Percentages as decimals
 To convert a percentage to a decimal, first write the percentage as a fraction out of 100.

1. Write the following percentages as decimals.

a)36% b)14% c)19% d)28% e)73% f)42.1%
2. The maximum legal Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) for drivers in New South Wales is 0.05%. What is the
BAC as a:

a) Fraction? b) Decimal?

3. In 2000, the year that Australia hosted the Olympic Games, the number of visitors to Australia during
February was 2.85% lower than in January. Write this percentage as a decimal.
4. Write the following percentages as fractions, in simplest form.
a) 3.5% b) 7.2% c) 11.8% d) 19.7% e) 32.4%

5. Imran saves 20% of his pocket money each week. What fraction does he save?

6. In one game, 35% of a football team is injured. What fraction of the team is injured?

7. Each week Jodie spends 45% of her wages at the supermarket. What fraction of Jodie’s wages is spent at
the supermarket?

8. What fraction of a class of students are boys if 68% are girls?

9. If a media report quoted the unemployment rate in Australia as 8%:

a) What fraction of the population is unemployed?
b) Out of 100 people, how many would you expect to be unemployed?

10. Less than 50% of the estimated 200 000 Australian invertebrate species have been described. What
fraction is this?

Decimals to percentages
 To change a decimal to a percentage, multiply the decimal by 100, write a % sign and simplify.

1. Change each of the following decimals to percentages.

a) 0.55 b) 0.66 c) 0.80 d) 0.09

2. Write the following decimals as percentages.

a) 0.7 b) 0.6 c) 0.007 d) 0.002

3. Sales of computers have increased by 0.47 over the past 4 years. By what percentage have computer
sales increased?
 Decimals and Percentages

Example1. Write the following percentages as decimals.

a)81% b) 16.8% c) 59.2% d) 84.9% e) 37.6%

Example 2. Write the following decimals as percentages.

a) 0.7 b)3.00 c) 0.0008 d) 0.00025

Example 3. In Australia, 0.77 of all students attend government schools. What percentage of students
attends government schools?
Example 4. The last census showed that 0.031 of the Australian population does not speak any English.
What percentage does not speak any English?
5.Complete the table below

Decimals Percentage Fractions

0.6

25%

3
4
0.35

56%

2
5
Percentage of a quantity
1. Calculate the following.
a)10% of 200 = b)80% of 700 = c)120% of 800 =

d)4.9% of 580 = e)3.8% of 670 = f)135% of 390 =

1 1 1
g) 25 % of 400 = h) 1 %of 700 = i) 90 % of 800 =
4 2 2

2. Of the 300 Year-9 students selected to complete a questionnaire on ice-cream, 70% said that their
favourite flavour was chocolate chip. How many favoured chocolate chip ice-cream?

3. Jake earns $570 per week. He has just received a pay rise of 4%.
a) How much more will Jake earn per week?
b) How much in total does Jake earn after his pay rise?

4. The Australian cricket team was fined 15% of their match payments for slow over rates. If the team
is paid $90 000 for the match, how much was the team fined?
 One amount as a percentage of another
1. Express: (write the answers as mixed numerals):
a)2 as a percentage of 10 b)13 as a percentage of 52
c)6 as a percentage of 12 d)8 as a percentage of 80
e)70 as a percentage of 80 f)12 as a percentage of 48
2. Express the first amount as a percentage of the second amount.
a)30c and $3 b)200 m and 5 km c)5 mm and 4 cm
d)6 days and 4 weeks e)15 minutes and 1 hour f)25 mL and 2 L
3. Caillan’s pocket money increased from $15 per week to $20 per week.
a) By how much has Caillan’s pocket money increased?
b) What percentage increase is this?
4. There are 28 students in a class. A survey showed that 12 walk home, 8 catch a bus and 8 ride in a car.
a) What percentage of students who walk.
b) What percentage of students who catch a bus.
c) Calculate the total percentage who walk or catch a bus.
d) What percentage of students who ride in a car.

Increase and Decrease by a percentage

Exercise
1. Increase each of the following numbers by the given percentage.
a)45 by 15% b) 5800 by 42% c) 65 by 20%
d) 72 by 70% e) 106 by 53% f) 670 by 3%

2. Decrease each of the following numbers by the given percentage.

a) 45 by 15% b) 76 by 35% c) 120 by 40%
d) 2722 by 53% e) 6530 by 30% f) 104 by 7%

4.

5.

6.
7.

8.

Applications of percentages
 Discount, commission, profit and loss are all examples of how percentages are used. Round to
two decimal places when doing calculations involving money.

1. At Westco, Levi jeans which normally cost $95.50 have been reduced by 15%.
a) By how much have the jeans been reduced?
b) How much will the jeans cost at the reduced price?

2. A pair of runners normally costing $139 is on sale. Twenty per cent has been taken off the price. How
much will the runners cost on sale?
3. A clothing store pays its salespeople a small wage (retainer) plus 2% commission on their total sales for
the week. If Danny sells $4080 worth of clothes in a week with $100, how much will he earn?

4. Catherine bought an old chest of drawers from a garage sale for $20. She bought paint for $10 and her
sister Deb helped to paint and repair it. When they sold it they made a profit of 60%.
a) How much profit did the girls make?
b) For how much did they sell the chest of drawers?
5. Jim can swim 50 m in 31 seconds. If he improves his time by 10%, what will Jim’s time for 50 m be?

6. In a survey, 40 people were asked if they liked or disliked Vegemite. Of the people surveyed, 5% said
they disliked Vegemite. How many people:

a) disliked Vegemite?
b) liked Vegemite?

7. Thirty-two thousand four hundred people went to the SCG to watch a Sydney Swans versus Western
Bulldogs football match. Of the crowd, 42% went to the game by car and 55% caught public transport. How
many people:

a) arrived by car?
b) caught public transport?

8. In the Student Council elections at a school, there were 3 candidates — Ann, Bob and Charlie. Ann
received 227 votes, Bob 182 and Charlie 239 votes. If 90% of the school population voted, what is the total
number of students in the school?
9. Lena saved $32 when she purchased a pair of jeans at a sale. If the sale had 40% off any item, what was
the original price for the pair of jeans?

Profit and Loss

 When buying and selling: Selling price = cost price + profit
OR
Selling price = cost price − loss

1. Complete the table below.

2. For Parts a to d of Question1, find the profit or loss as a percentage of the cost price.
3. For Parts d to g of Question 1, find the profit or loss as a percentage of the selling price.
4. James bought an old coin for $5 and later sold it for $10. Find:
a) his profit from the sale
b) the profit as a percentage of the cost price
c) the profit as a percentage of the selling price.
5. Heather paid $640 for her wedding dress. After the wedding, she sold the dress to her friend Sarah for
$400. Find:
a) Heather’s loss from the sale
b) the loss as a percentage of the cost price
c) the loss as a percentage of the selling price.
6. Alan bought some land for $40 000 and later sold it, making a profit of 20% on his cost. Find:
a) the profit
b) the selling price
c) the profit as a percentage of the selling price.

Profits and discounts

Percentages are widely used in the world of finance. Profits, losses, commissions, discounts and taxation are
often expressed and calculated using percentages.
■ Profit is the amount of money made on a sale. Profit = selling price − cost price

■ A loss is made when the selling price is less than the cost price. Loss = cost price − selling price

■ The percentage profit or percentage loss can be found by dividing the profit or loss by the cost price and
multiplying by 100%:

profit /loss
% Profit/Loss = ×100%
Cost price

■ Discount is the amount by which an item is marked down.

Discount = % discount × original price

New price = original price – discount

1. The following percentage discounts are given on the price of various products. State the percentage of the
original price that each product is selling for.
a) 10% off
b) 20% off
c) 15% off
d) 8% off
Example: Finding the discount amount
An electrical store advertises a 15% discount on all equipment as a holiday special. Find the sale price on a
projection system that has a marked price of $18 000.

Solution:

Discount = 15% of $18 000 = $2700

∴ the new price = $18 000 − $2700 = $15 300

2. Copy and complete the table by writing in the missing values.

Example: Determining profit

A manufacturer produces an item for $400 and sells it for $540.

 a) Determine the profit made.
b) Express this profit as a percentage of the cost price.
Solution: a) Profit = $540 − $400 = $140 Profit = selling price − cost price

140
b) % profit = × 100%
400

= 35%

3. Find the missing values in these tables. Round to two decimals places where necessary.

4. A manufacturer produces and sells items for the prices shown. i Determine the profi t made. ii Express
this profit as a percentage of the cost price.

a) Cost price $10, selling price $12

b) Cost price $20, selling price $25

c) Cost price $120, selling price $136.80

d) Cost price $1400, selling price $3850

5. It used to take 20 hours to fly to Los Angeles. It now takes 12 hours. What is the percentage decrease in
travel time?

6. Lenny marks up all computers in his store by 12.5%. If a computer cost him $890, what will be the selling
price of the computer?

7. A used-car dealer purchases a vehicle for $13 000 and sells it for $18 500. Determine the percentage
mark-up on the vehicle to one decimal place.

8. A refrigerator is discounted by 25%. If Paula pays $460 for it, what was the original price? Round to the
nearest cent.

Goods and services tax (GST)

The GST is a federal tax applied to most goods and services in Australia. It is calculated at the rate of 10%
of the purchase price of the goods or services.
The price excluding the GST (that is the price before the GST is added) is written ‘price excluding GST’.
The price including the GST (that is the price after the GST is added) is written ‘price including GST’.

Example 1
a) Calculate the GST and the price including GST of a camera with a listed price excluding GST of $710.
b) Calculate the price including GST of a mobile phone with a listed price excluding GST of $299.

Solution: a) GST = 10% of $710

= $71
Price including GST = $710 + $71
= $781

b) Price including GST = list price + 10% of the list price

= 110% of the list price
=110%× $299
=$328.90

Example2. Calculate the pre-tax price of a car that costs $31 350, including GST.
Price = $31 350 ÷ 110% = $28 500
Do the following Exercise
1. Calculate the GST payable on a book that has a pre-tax price of $35.60.
2. Calculate the GST payable on each of the following items (prices given are pre-tax):
a) a bottle of dishwashing liquid at $2.30 b) a basketball at $68.90
c) a pair of cargo pants at $98.50
3. Calculate the GST payable on each of the following items (correct to the nearest cent):
a) a barbecued chicken with a pre-tax price of $7.99
b) a tin of shoe polish with a pre-tax price of $4.81
c) a tin of dog food with a pre-tax price of 93c
4. A pair of sports shoes that cost $112.50 has 10% GST added to the cost. Calculate the total cost of the
sports shoes.
5. Calculate the total cost of each of the following items after the 10% GST has been added (prices given are
pre-tax):
a) a football jersey priced at $114.90 b) a CD priced at $29.90
c) a bunch of flowers priced at $14.70
Q6. A restaurant bill totals $108.35 including the 10% GST. Calculate the actual price of the meal before the
GST was added.
Q7. A bus fare was $2.09 including the 10% GST. Calculate:
a) the bus fare without the GST
b) how much GST was paid.

Best Buys
Example 1. A brand of soft drink is sold in bottles of three different sizes.
Which of these bottles is the best buy; that is, the cheapest per litre?

Bottle A: 500 mL costs 75c. So 1 L costs $1.50.

Bottle B: 1 L costs $1.20.
Bottle C: 2 L costs $2.50. So 1 L costs $1.25.
The cheapest cost per litre is $1.20. So the
1-L bottle of soft drink is the best buy.

Exercise

1. Jars of peanut butter come in various sizes. For each of the following, state how many jars you would
need to buy to have 1 kg of peanut butter?
a) 100 g b) 200 g c) 250 g d) 500 g
2. Calculate which of these jars of peanut butter is the best buy?
a) 100 g costs 90c b) 200 g costs $1.75 c) 250 g costs $1.80 d) 500 g costs $3.40
3. A 450-g jar of Vegemite costs $3.15. Copy and complete the following.
a) 450 g costs _____________ b) 50 g costs ______________ c) 1 kg costs ______________
4. A 150-g jar of coffee costs $5.10.
Calculate the cost of 1 kg of coffee at the same rate.
8. Which is the best buy?

a) 1.2 kg of apples for $5.20 or 0.75 kg of apples for $3.50?

b) 250 mL of orange juice for $2.95 or 400 mL of orange juice for $4.20?

9. Which is the best buy?

500 g of cheese for $12.80, 200 g of cheese for $5.62 or

80 g of cheese for $2.10?

Year 8 notes