PercenTable

Copy and complete this table without using a calculator!

  240 1020 2100 28140
10%
50%
25%
33⅓%
75%
90%

A Mathematics Lesson Starter Of The Day


Topics: Starter | Arithmetic | Mental Methods | Percentages

  • Transum,
  •  
  • Transum's exciting, fascinating and surprising starters are balanced by this more routine practice exercise. Having said that some pupils will find it a revelation when they learn (from other pupils) tricks for quickly working out these common percentages. A really useful way to spend the first ten minutes of the lesson.
  • Dylan T, Charnwood Primary Lichfield
  •  
  • This was a good starter especially if your target is percentages!
  • Faye D Year 6, Charnwood Primary Lichfield
  •  
  • A good starter as it got my brain working and lots of people found it challenging.
  • Transum,
  •  
  • HELP! How do you convert a fraction to a percentage? Do you multiply by 100 or do you multiply by 100% ? Textbooks differ and I have been having a conversation which is leaving me undecided. You can see the discussion here

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world.
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Previous Day | This starter is for 16 October | Next Day

 

% - This is the percent symbol.
Percent means 'out of 100'.

Find 50%:

As 50 is half of 100, then 50% means half. To find 50% of a quantity you need to halve (or divide by two). So 50% of 6 is 3.

Find 10%:

As 10 is one tenth of 100, then 10% means 'one tenth of'. To find 10% of a quantity you need to divide it by ten. So 10% of 800 is 80.

Find 25%:

As 25 is one quarter of 100, then 25% means 'one quarter of'. To find 25% of a quantity you need to divide it by four. So 25% of 20 is 5.

Another way of finding 25% of a quantity is first finding 50% then dividing the result by 2.

Find 33⅓%:

As 33⅓ is one third of 100, then 33⅓% means 'one third of'. To find 33⅓% of a quantity you need to divide it by three. So 33⅓% of 30 is 10.

Find 1%:

As 1 is one hundredth of 100, then 1% means 'one hundredth of'. To find 1% of a quantity you need to divide it by 100. So 1% of 800 is 8.

Find other percentages:

Other percentages can be found by combining some of the techniques mentioned above. Here are some examples:

If you need to use a calculator to check your working. See Calculator Workout skill 3.

Commute

Did you know that if you are struggling to mentally work out 24% of 50 you can switch the numbers round and work out 50% of 24 instead. Finding 50% is very easy isn’t it? You will get the same answer.

Finding a percentage of a quantity is an example of a commutative calculation. Not all operations are commutative. Subtraction certainly isn’t as 10 minus one is not the same as one minus ten.

You can use this trick to improve your ability to do this type of calculation quickly if you find the switch makes it easier.

Practise with 12% of 50, 4% of 25 and 75% of 10.

Answers

  240 1020 2100 28140
10% 24 102 210 2814
50% 120 510 1050 14070
25% 60 255 525 7035
33⅓% 80 340 700 9380
75% 180 765 1575 21105
90% 216 918 1890 25326

Note to teacher: Doing this activity once with a class helps students develop strategies. It is only when they do this activity a second time that they will have the opportunity to practise those strategies. That is when the learning is consolidated. Click the button above to regenerate another version of this starter from random numbers.




Laptops In Lessons

Teacher, do your students have access to computers such as tablets, iPads or Laptops?  This page was really designed for projection on a whiteboard but if you really want the students to have access to it here is a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments:

Transum.org/go/?Start=October16

However it would be better to assign one of the student interactive activities below.

Laptops In Lessons

Here is the URL which will take them to a related student activity.

Transum.org/go/?to=pchange

Student Activity

 

Curriculum Reference

See the National Curriculum page for links to related online activities and resources.


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