Solution: 51/86 as a percent is 59.302%
Methods
Method 1 – Converting 51/86 Into a Percentage:
First, let’s go over what a fraction represents. The number above the line is called the numerator, while the number below the line is called the denominator. The fraction shows how many portions of the number there are, in relation to how many would make up the whole. For instance, in the fraction 51/86, we could say that the value is 51 portions, out of a possible 86 portions to make up the whole.
For percentages, the difference is that we want to know how many portions there are if there are 100 portions possible. “Percent” means “per hundred”. For example, if we look at the percentage 25%, that means we have 25 portions of the possible 100 portions. Re-writing this in fraction form, we see 25/100.
The first step in converting a fraction to a percentage is to adjust the fraction so that the denominator is 100. To do this, you first divide 100 by the denominator:
100
86
=
1.163
\frac{100}{86} = 1.163
86 100 = 1.163
We can then adjust the whole fraction using this number, like so:
51
∗
1.163
86
∗
1.163
=
59.302
100
\frac{51*1.163}{86*1.163} = \frac{59.302}{100}
86 ∗ 1.163 51 ∗ 1.163 = 100 59.302
Reading this as a fraction, we can say that we have 59.302 portions of a possible 100 portions.
Re-writing this as a percentage, we can see that 51/86 as a percentage is 59.302%
Method 2 – Converting 51/86 Into a Percentage Using Decimals:
Another way we can convert 51/86 into a percentage is to first convert 51/86 into a decimal. We can do this by simply dividing the numerator by the denominator:
51
86
=
0.593
\frac{51}{86} = 0.593
86 51 = 0.593
Once we have the answer, we can multiply the new decimal by 100 to get the percentage:
0.593 × 100 = 59.302
As you can see, we get the same answer as the first method and find that 51/86 as a percentage is 59.302%.
Now you know of two different ways to convert 51/86 into a percentage! While converting using a decimal takes fewer steps, you first need to master converting fractions into decimals. Try out both methods and see which one works best for you!
Practice more percentage problems!
Practice makes perfect so why not check out some of other problems where you can convert a fraction to a percentage?
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