Help - embarrassed to ask !

chipmunk

I've never been good at maths (understatement of the year!) and my boss has just asked to me help out with some accounts tasks. :eek:
He wants me to work out percentages of some figures, i.e. 30% of £54,677. I said to him "I'm not very good with figures" but he replied "it's nothing too complicated, don't worry". Thing is, that is complicated for me.

Can some kind soul please help and tell me how to work this out on a calculator and please don't make fun of me, you can't be good at everything can you ?;)

julie1075

I'll try!
30% of 54,677 on a calculator is
30 divided by 100 times 54677 equals

If you imagine all percentages are divided by 100. So 10% is 10 divided by 100 then times by the amount you want the percentage of. HTH

Daisy_Daisy_2

if the calculator has a % button then its even easier -
54677 x 30 %
you shouldn't even need the = button!

If you have Excel I can give you a formula so that it can work it out for you?

bookduck

every thing percent means out of 100.

So 30% means 30 out of 100

so if the figure is £54677 times that by 30 and divide the whole lot by 100 which is £16403.10
----
rough rule for small amounts: 30% is about a third, 20% is one fifth exactly, so for a quick mental arithmetic vat guess take away 1/5 and know you are only 2.5% out.

Excel is very good at things like this.

HelzBelz

54677 x .3 =

Think of 100% as 1 and the percentage is just .(point) whatever the figure is 30% =.3, 25% =.25, 250% =2.5

newlywed

I always get confused so:-

If you divide the figure (54,677) by 100 you get 1%

Then you times that figure by however many % you need (eg 30)

Andybez38

Im crap at maths too, but i do know if im short changed at the shops. Forget percentages, logarithums antilogarithums pi and stuff, confuses the hell out of me.

chipmunk

Hi guys, tried all solutions, got the same answer. Can't thank you all enough. I feel so dumb:o

Thanks again. If I can ever return the favour, I'm good at spelling (not that any of you look like you need help).

Numpty_Monkey

newlywed wrote: »

I always get confused so:-

If you divide the figure (54,677) by 100 you get 1%

Then you times that figure by however many % you need (eg 30)

thats how i do it aswell:o

Thanks julie1075, Daisy Daisy,HelzBelz

3 new ways learnt :T

you learn some thing new everyday:D

hardpressed

The easy way to find roughly 1% is to cross of the last 2 numbers, so 1% of 45,677 is about 456 or to be precise 456.77 multiply by 30 for 30%,that's if you haven't got a calculator handy.

littleboo

And a handy tip for working out what 17.5% vat is.

17.5 = 10 + 5 + 2.5 and 5 is half of 10 and 2.5 is half of 5

So you divide by 10, add half, then add half of the half

ie

VAT on £60 = 6 + 3 + 1.50 = £10.50