Math
Grades 6–8 · Ratios & Proportions

How to calculate percentages.

Percent simply means out of a hundred, and once that clicks, the three percent questions (find the part, the whole, or the percent) stop feeling like three separate formulas. Study Butler builds all of them from that one idea.

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Here is what that looks like.

Study Butler will not print the answer. It points at the next step and lets your kid take it.

An example. The butler answers the question with a question.

what is 20 percent of 60.

percent means out of a hundred. so what is 20 percent as a decimal, and what do you do with it.

0.2, and multiply by 60?

exactly. you have got it.

Where students get stuck.

The same few mistakes come up again and again. Here is where the butler slows things down.

01Forgetting to convert the percent first

Students multiply by 20 instead of 0.2. Study Butler always has your kid turn the percent into a decimal or fraction before anything else.

02Mixing up the part and the whole

In percent-change problems, dividing by the wrong number flips the answer. The butler asks which number is the original, every time.

03Confusing percent of with percent off

A 20 percent discount is not the same as paying 20 percent. Study Butler slows down to check what the problem is actually asking.

Bring the problem they're stuck on.

Type it, say it, or snap a photo. Study Butler walks your kid to the answer one question at a time, so they learn it instead of copying it.

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Questions parents ask.

How do you find a percent of a number?
Turn the percent into a decimal and multiply. 20 percent of 60 is 0.2 times 60. Study Butler makes sure the conversion happens first.
How do you calculate percent change?
Find the difference, divide by the original amount, then convert to a percent. The butler has your kid identify the original number before dividing, since that is where mistakes happen.