Fractions and Percentages are just different ways of showing a value that represents a part of a whole. A fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are. For example, if a pie was cut into 8 equal pieces, then one of those pieces would be referred to as one-eighth or 1/8. Two of those pieces would be referred to as two-eighths or 2/8, which can be further simplified to one-quarter or 1/4. When describing the terminology of fractions, the integer above the line is known as the numerator, while the integer below the line is referred to as a denominator.
So for the fraction 2/8, 2 would be the numerator and 8 would be the denominator. These fractions can also be written without using numerators or denominators, but by converting them into a percentage, which is a number ratio as a fraction of 100. Thus, 2/8 can be written as 25%, while 3/8 can be written as 37.5%.
Both fractions and percentages have practical applications in everyday life, which is why it is considered under Consumer Mathematics. Things such as interest rates are always displayed as percentages in order to make consumer calculations much easier. So a 5% interest rate or 5/100 of $100,000 is much easier to calculate than any other depiction. Thus, understanding the applicability of fractions and percentages in everyday mathematics is a crucial life skill.
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