Basicallly percents are based of 100% so there is a 100% which would be a whole then there is only 25% and if you take 4 quarters and each quarter is 25 cents and there is 4 quarters in a whole that would be 1/4. You add the 1 whole and the 1/4 to get 1 1/4.
Hope this helps, tried to explain it in the best way I can.
