About Percent to Decimal
Fractions, decimals and percentages describe the same thing in three different languages: a share of a whole. School marks and discounts use percentages, measurements and money use decimals, and recipes, spanners and shares of ownership stay in fractions.
This page converts percents to decimals and shows the working, so the method is clear the next time you have to do it on paper. Mixed numbers such as 1 1/2 are accepted, and repeating decimals are matched to the closest simple fraction rather than left as a long string of digits.
How it works
A fraction, a decimal and a percentage are three ways of writing the same quantity. Turning percents into decimals takes three steps:
- Drop the % sign.
- Divide by 100 — that is what percent means.
- Move the decimal point two places to the left for the same result.
Going the other way is Decimal to Percent.
Examples
Worked examples:
- 37.5% → 37.5 ÷ 100 = 0.375
- 7% → 7 ÷ 100 = 0.07
- 150% → 150 ÷ 100 = 1.5
| Fraction | Decimal | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | 0.5 | 50% |
| 1/3 | 0.333… | 33.33% |
| 2/3 | 0.666… | 66.67% |
| 1/4 | 0.25 | 25% |
| 3/4 | 0.75 | 75% |
| 1/5 | 0.2 | 20% |
| 1/8 | 0.125 | 12.5% |
| 3/8 | 0.375 | 37.5% |
| 5/8 | 0.625 | 62.5% |
| 1/10 | 0.1 | 10% |
| 1/16 | 0.0625 | 6.25% |
Percent to Decimal: frequently asked questions
- How do you convert a percentage to a decimal?
- Divide by 100. 7.5% = 0.075 and 150% = 1.5.
- Why divide by 100?
- “Per cent” means “per hundred”, so 45% literally means 45 out of 100, which is 0.45.
- What is 0.5% as a decimal?
- 0.5% = 0.005.