Page 71 - BUSINESS MATHEMATICS MODULE 1 (WHOLE)_revised 10.20.2020

WALKTHROUGH
LESSON 5: COMPARISON OF NUMBERS

A. PERCENTAGE
In business and in our daily lives, we often compare numbers. We may, for example,
compare our population growth last year with our population growth this year. In this case we will

be using the percentage formula. Computations of simple and compound interests, discounts, taxes,
commissions and production growth are also based on the percentage formula.

Percentage problems contain three elements:

1. The base - to which the problem refers.
2. The rate - the amount, degree, etc. of anything in relation to units of something else: as, the

rate of interest, the rate of growth, the rate of pay per month, the foreign exchange rate, etc.
The rate can be expressed in percent, decimal, or fraction of the base.

3. The percentage - refers to the actual quantity or number of items represented by the rate. If

the base is in peso units, the percentage must also be expressed in pesos. The percentage is
the number that is related to the base by the rate.

In every problem where two of these factors are given, the third can be found by means of
this basic formula:

= ×
Where: P = Percentage
B = Base

R = Rate

• Finding the Percentage
To find a percentage, we multiply base by the rate, as,

= ×
Example 1:

Our Gross National Product (G.N.P.) last year (1979) was about 89 billion. It is

estimated that our GNP would grow by 6% next year (1980). By how much would our
GNP grow?

Given: B = ₱89 billion Solution: P = B × R

R = 0.06 P = ₱89 × 0.06
P = ? P = ₱5.34 billion

LESSON 4: FRACTIONS 4.1 | P a g e