Are percentages a bad idea?

prosaic

A good few people get a bit confused by percentages.

The thought occurs to me that maybe for those who find maths a bit tricky, then perhaps decimal values could be more clear than percentages, assuming they had learned about decimal values rather than learning about percentages from the outset.

Percentages are a convenient way of showing decimal values, and of course have the natural meaning of e.g. 50 out of 100 people.

The trouble really kicks in when someone has to apply percentages in calculations. In effect, they have to convert from percent to decimal and then do the calculation. Equally tricky if they have to get a percentage of a percentage etc.

I wonder if it would be best to have people learn to work in decimal in all cases and then later learn how to represent decimals as percentages for convenience.

Just a momentary thought to share...

srsly78

People with this trouble lack a fundamental understanding of fractions, so it won't matter how you frame it.

prosaic

Indeed, but percentages seem to be piling another layer of confusion on top?

arminkavix

Percentages are fractions.
13% is thirteen hundredths, 13/100.
Look at the percent character and see what it is made of, bars and zeros.
Percent rolls off the tongue easier than hundredths and was at one time a lot easier for printers and typesetters.
There is an air of differentness about them which coupled with the formulaic way most texts go about them and special buttons on calculators all just contrives to make them hard to get to grips with.
Many white collar types would end up in the poorhouse without them as they are the only source of income for the poor darlings:)

M.T. Cranium

75% of the time, yes.

Yakuza

They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works all of the time.

prosaic

I'm 25% sure of what 75% of you are saying