heybaby said:

It looks like you're just subtracting 45 from 66 and 2/3%. Ignore the percent sign and . . .do the math. You get 21 and 2/3%.
The percent sign is the percent of 100. (Unless you are using a base system other than ten, which means you would have a different answer.)
66 and 2/3 is also 66 and 2/3 of 100.
[Edited 7/20/09 20:54pm]

coolcat said:

That's one way to look at it.

heybaby said:

Where's the division part of the equation?
It does sound like the equation should be treated as a multiplication problem. They just left off the parentheses.

SUPRMAN said:

Suprman, check out replies #17 and #18.

coolcat said:

There we go!

Vendetta1 said:

check out the big brain on Ivy

IAintTheOne said:

heybaby said:

you know she's gonna fuck my ass up right? LOL

IAintTheOne said:

Be a man. Suck it up

heybaby said:

hahahahahahahaha

I just want to say thank you. This thread helped him a lot with the other problems he had to solve. He has also been tutored by his teacher for an hour every day. He has went from getting over half wrong out of 30 to only 6 out of 30 wrong on his most recent test. I am very happy

heybaby said:

AlexdeParis said:

When you put it that way, seems simple.

SUPRMAN said:

yeah unless I'm reading it wrong it's really simple, basically 66-45 (with 2/3 tacked on)

RodeoSchro said:

right that's how I'm reading it, it's like subtracting one from two and a half

Nevermind I read it wrong!

heybaby said:

did he hand it in and you found out the real answer yet?

ZombieKitten said:

I got an orgnote indicating that I should read the entire thread before offering to ruin kids's math careers. The answer is on the first page.

this thread just totally ruined the org for me.

NDRU said:

I just signed another test for him. He got 3 wrong outta 30 on this one.





Coolcat's answer was correct but the math teacher found an even simpler way for him to do it...what that is I don't know






clarify edit
[Edited 7/23/09 18:13pm]

You can set up a ratio

66.666667/100 = X/45

and subtract x from 45

NDRU said:

I will take your word for it

heybaby said:

Actually ratios are one of the few things I learned in math that I use in life.

66-2/3% of $1 is somewhere between $.66 and $.67 (2/3 of $1)

pick one

.66 x $45 = 29.70

.67 x $45 = 30.15

either one rounded to the nearest $1 is $30

so 66-2/3% of $45 is $30

66-2/3% - $45 would be $30 - $45 = $15 off the original price.
[Edited 7/24/09 13:02pm]

NDRU said:

But again, you can do that in your head if you recognize 66-2/3% is equal to 2/3.

The media often relies on calculations with percentages to make an impact these days. You see headlines like "Left hand index finger cancer has increased by 200% in the last year!" and people think "Oh no, left hand index finger cancer is getting out of control! I'd better have a checkup!" but the crucial information of how many cases there are has been left out. It could be 1 case worldwide that increased to 3 cases for all we know, in which case there surely is no need to worry. So I think it can be quite misleading.

Counting with percentages can be confusing in other cases too. Say that you have something that loses 90% of its value. How much, in per cent, would the value need to increase by from there to regain its original value? 90%? Nope, try 900%... So these days when they say that stocks have gained more than 40% (or whatever) in the last few months that sounds great, but it's from such low levels comparatively speaking that the valuations still aren't that impressive.