percentages are used like fractions and decimals, as ways to describe parts of a whole. For example, discounts in shops, bank interest rates, rates of inflation and many statistics in the media are expressed as percentages. Percentages are important for understanding the financial aspects of everyday life. When you are using percentages, the whole is considered to be made up of a hundred equal parts. The symbol % is used to show that a number is a percentage, and less commonly the abbreviation 'pct' may be used.
