Final answer:
A percent is a way to express a portion of something as a fraction of 100. It is used to represent how many parts out of 100 a certain quantity is. Percentages are used across various fields, from basic math problems to indicating concentrations in chemistry.
Step-by-step explanation:
A percent is a way to express a part or a portion of something in relation to a whole, where the whole is divided into 100 equal parts. It's represented using the percent symbol (%). For instance, when we say 25%, it denotes 25 parts out of 100, which can also be represented as a fraction ½ or a decimal 0.25. Similarly, 100% represents the entirety, or a ratio of 1. When calculating percents, the formula used is: part divided by total multiplied by 100. This converts a fraction to a percent by showing how many parts out of 100 the fraction represents.
In other contexts, such as chemistry, a percent solution can refer to the concentration of a solute in a solution. This can be expressed in terms of mass/mass percent, volume/volume percent, or mass/volume percent, depending on whether the solute and solvent are measured by mass or volume. For example, a volume percent (v/v)% describes the amount of solute by volume per 100 units of total solution volume.
To convert a percent to a decimal, you divide the percent value by 100. Therefore, 5% as a decimal would be 0.05. This is useful for various calculations, including determining the volume percentage of solutes in solutions for labs and experiments.