The percentage of a number is found by multiplying the percent value by the base to get the percent amount, according to the Monterey Institute of Technology and Education. The base is the whole number and the percentage is some portion of it.
For example, since a percentage can be rewritten as a decimal number, the first step to finding 12.5 percent of 72 is to convert 12.5 into an equivalent decimal. This is done by moving the decimal point two places to the left, which equals 0.125. The second step is to multiply 0.125 by 72, the base, to get the percentage, 9.
\Dictionary.com defines a percent as one-hundredth of a part. A percentage is how many hundredths of a part a given value is. When dividing the fraction of an amount by the whole amount, the answer results in a decimal. The first column to the right of the decimal is the tenths value, and the column to the right of that is the hundredths value.
