Write 5/8 as a percentage.

Step by step

The question

Question: write 5/8 as a percent.

1 Make the bottom 1000

Percent means out of 100.

So we want a bottom of 100.

100 divided by 8 does not come out even.

But 1000 divided by 8 is 125.

So 8 times 125 is 1000.

We multiply the top and the bottom by 125.

125/125 is 1, so the value stays the same.

5 times 125 is 625.

So we get 625/1000.

Percent means out of 100, not 1000.

So we divide the top and the bottom by 10.

625 divided by 10 is 62.5.

So we get 62.5/100.

Careful!

As a decimal, 5/8 is 0.625.

But 0.625% means 0.625 out of 100: far too small.

2 Write the percent

62.5 out of 100 is 62.5%.

3 Check

Let's check: go back.

62.5% is 62.5/100.

That is 625/1000.

Divide the top and the bottom by 125.

We get 5/8.

So the answer is right!

Let's look back.

First: make the bottom 1000.

Then: write the percent.

Last: check.