Percentages

[mollykins]

I don't know if this is posible or if it'll make sense but . . . .if you are given a percentage such as 50% for a test score for example, can you work out the minimum thing that the test was out of, without knowing how many marks you got, just the percentage, if all numbers a integers that is. If it was 50% then the minimum it could be out of was two but that's easy to work out.

[ChuckFickens]

100 divided by the percentage you got.

[ChuckFickens]

Opps, sorry, didn't read the question fully.... ignore me :)

[mollykins]

I thought that didn't sound right and was expecting a complicated answer.

[redcrx]

if all you have is a percentage then you cant work out what the score was or what a full score was.

[squarebear]

No. 2 is 50% of 4 and 3 is 50% of 6
50% just indicates half.

[mollykins]

You might not be able to work out the specific full score but could you work out the minimum, is what I'm asking.

Like 50% could be from any even number, but the minimum, positive I should add, integer would be two.

[mollykins]

I didn't think this would make sense.

If you knew a score from a test was 50%, that score could be one, meaning the minimum possible full marks would be two.

[redcrx]

are all marks full marks? or are half marks awarded?

[mollykins]

I did say all numbers are integers.

[auntflo]

write the % as a fraction so 50% = 50/100
then reduce the fraction as far as possible. the denominator will be the number of questions
so 60% would be 60/100 = 3/5, so there would be 5 questions.

[mollykins]

Oh yeah, I supose it would be, thanks flo.

[dr b]

Yes - change your percentage to a fraction, and reduce the fraction to its lowest possible denominator. That denominator is the minimum number of questions the test could have. E.g., you got 85.71%, that's 6/7, so the test would have to have at least 7 questions. (Could also be 12/14, 18/21, etc.)

[dr b]

As auntflo pointed out so well.

[mollykins]

It's obvious now, but I was wondering this and just couldn't think and got a mental block. thanks x molly

[MarkRae]

Now, Molly, your challenge is to work out an algebraic function which does this automatically e.g.

x = <function>n

where x is the result and n is the given variable...

[mollykins]

NNNNOOOOOOOO . . . . I've escaped from maths until september now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


coincidentally, what is the answer?

[MarkRae]

http://www.calculator...percenttofraction.php

[factor-fiction]

Anyway, how do you know the percentage figures you have been given haven't been rounded. For example the 50% figure you meantioned could have been 49.5% unrounded and the score may have been 99 out of 200.
I'm wondering why you want to know.

[rov1200]

If 60% was the pass mark and you only achieved 50% then you have failed.

[mollykins]

factor, I did say that all numbers are integers.