Let's say you went shopping and you saw that there is a discount on vegetables. The seller provides you 5% discount on all sales. It means whatever you will buy, you will get a 5% discount on the total amount, but, how do you know what would be the 5% of your items? This might be confusing for you, however, it is very easy and simple. All you need to do is to find the 1% of that and you can easily find the 5% discount that you will be getting.
Calculating Percentages
In order to calculate 1%, you need to know how percentage works and how to calculate the percentage of any number. Percentage means a number divided into 100 parts. For example, you have a huge cake and you have 100 guests. You need to divide that huge cake into 100 parts. Basically, every guest is getting 1% of the cake. That was pretty easy to calculate but what if, you have a huge cake and you have 50 guests? How much percent of the cake will each guest will be having? There are two ways to solve it, the old-fashion way and the quick way, we will discuss both ways, don't worry. The old-fashion way provides a great explanation for the concept of percentage. It might be a little bit time-consuming but it is worth it. As the words tell you, the quick way is very quick but there is not much learning about percentage in it. Below is the formula for finding percentage:
Let's use this formula to find the percentage of the cake that each guest will get.
The total number of guests is 
and of course, you have one cake. The cake they will obtain will be in the numerator while the total number of guests will be in the denominator. The whole game is based on the numerator and denominator. Usually, a percentage never exceeds 100%, however, in profit-loss case, you can see percentages exceeding 100%. Let's do another example for better clarity. You just got your result and you are eager to find the percentage of the whole result. You scored a total number of 
out of .
Your result percentage is 80% which means you scored 80% out of 100% in your exams, that is pretty good, right? This is the right way to find the percentage of any number. Let's talk about the quick method that you all have been waiting for. Here is the shortcut, to find the percentage of any number, you need to find the 1% of the total number and then multiply it with the obtained part. Yes, the short-cut also required 1% of the given number.
Calculating the 1% of a Number
Finding 1% of any number is very easy. Let's take back our exam example, the first step is to find 1% of the total number. 1% means 
of any number. You need to memorize this thing to use the short-cut method. For example, you are asked to find the 1% of 
, it would be, 
that would be 
. Here is another shortcut, instead of putting this in your calculator that will consume time, just remove two zeros from the right side as we did above. What if, instead of zero, there are other numbers such as , , or 
? Easy, just place the decimal on the left of the second number starting from the right side. However, if the number is in decimal then you need to add two zeros after the decimal. Therefore, the 1% of , , and will be:
There is no hard and fast rule for this, you can use the calculator if you want but if you don't want to use the calculator then we showed you the trick. Below is a table that contains numbers and their 1%, why don't you try to find their 1% and then tally your answers with the second row?
| Number | 1% of the Number |
| 5 | 0.05 |
| 15 | 0.15 |
| 125 | 1.25 |
| 1500 | 15 |
| 3500 | 35 |
| 125810 | 1258.10 |
| 46001 | 460.01 |
| 18015230 | 180152.30 |
| 100485 | 1004.85 |
| 1856005 | 18560.05 |
| 123100 | 1231.00 |
| 65823 | 658.23 |
| 55813 | 558.13 |
| 85599 | 855.99 |
| 3916150 | 39161.50 |
| 418566 | 4185.66 |
| 89991 | 899.91 |
| 978110 | 9781.10 |
| 0.001 | 0.00001 |
| 0.001589 | 0.00001589 |
| 0.0189666 | 0.000189666 |
| 0.1599001 | 0.001599001 |
| 0.0144001 | 0.000144001 |
| 0.0014001 | 0.000014001 |
Now, let's get back to finding the percentage of any number using the short-cut way.
Short-cut of Calculating Percentage
The first step was to calculate 1% of the total number. The next is straightforward, multiply it with the given information. For the case of the exam percentage, find the 1% of total marks which is 
now divide the obtained number by the 1% of the total marks:
Pretty simple right? Do remember, this technique is to find the percentage of any number, however, if you are given the percentage and asked to find the obtained number or total number then a different method will be used. Let's do another example for better clarification, what would be the percentage of 
if the total number is 
. The first step is to find 1% of the total number which is 
.
Now you need to divide the number by 1% of the total number, which is .
Let's try to compare it with the original method, using the percentage formula:
Eureka! Both are the same! Pretty fast-forward method, right? Just two steps and they both are so simple that you don't even require a calculator. Just find the 1% of the total number and then divide the number you are provided by the 1% of the total number. What if, you are asked to find the 5% of the number ? Let's look at it. The first step, you might have gotten it now, find the 1% of the total number which is
Since you are given the percentage, you are asked to find the number which is equal to the 5% of the number , you will multiply the 5% with the number that is equal to the 1% of the total number.
Therefore, 
is the 5% of the number . Why don't you tally the answer and let us know in the comment section what you found?
Conclusion
Let's get it to the point, we all are busy in our lives finding shortcuts to every problem. That is why we came up with this post to help our readers to solve their problems. From now on, you can easily calculate the discount percentage that you see in different stores. Speaking about discount percentage, let's solve that last example and then call it a day. You went to the shop and bought the vegetables and the total cost is
, you were getting a 5% discount from that store. So, what is the amount you paid to the cashier? The 1% of the total amount is 
and since you are getting 5% discount that means 
. Your 5% discount is 
! This isn't over, we found the discount but we still don't know how much you paid to the cashier? Let's subtract the discount from your total billing. Therefore, 
. In conclusion, you paid to the cashier! See! No calculator is required! And now you keep track of your money.
72, how much was invested in each mutual fund?
determine the percent of increase
and of course, you have one cake. The cake they will obtain will be in the numerator while the total number of guests will be in the denominator. The whole game is based on the numerator and denominator. Usually, a percentage never exceeds 100%, however, in profit-loss case, you can see percentages exceeding 100%. Let's do another example for better clarity. You just got your result and you are eager to find the percentage of the whole result. You scored a total number of 
out of 
. 
of any number. You need to memorize this thing to use the short-cut method. For example, you are asked to find the 1% of 
, it would be, 
that would be 
. Here is another shortcut, instead of putting this in your calculator that will consume time, just remove two zeros from the right side as we did above. What if, instead of zero, there are other numbers such as 
, 
, or 
? Easy, just place the decimal on the left of the second number starting from the right side. However, if the number is in decimal then you need to add two zeros after the decimal. Therefore, the 1% of 
now divide the obtained number by the 1% of the total marks: 
if the total number is 
. The first step is to find 1% of the total number 
. 
is the 5% of the number 
, you were getting a 5% discount from that store. So, what is the amount you paid to the cashier? The 1% of the total amount is 
and since you are getting 5% discount that means 
. Your 5% discount is 
! This isn't over, we found the discount but we still don't know how much you paid to the cashier? Let's subtract the discount from your total billing. Therefore, 
. In conclusion, you paid 
to the cashier! See! No calculator is required! And now you keep track of your money.