this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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Memes

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[–] [email protected] 197 points 1 year ago (4 children)

WTF why did no one mention this to me when I was struggling with math as a kid?

[–] [email protected] 127 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

They probably did, just not explicitly:

You could write (6*1/100)*50 = 6*(50*1/100)

It only uses the commutative property of multiplication and the fact that % is another way of writing 1/100.

Maybe also worth remembering that "x% of y" is just x/100*y

[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The word percent is exactly that per cent, which basically means parts of hundred. E.g. 10% are 10 of 100, or 60% are 60 of 100. You can also write this mathematically as 60/100 or 60÷100, which is 0.6.

Now in general: x% are x parts of 100 or x/100 or x÷100. If you want to calculate x% of y you just multiply it: y × x% = y × x ÷ 100.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I'm sorry but you have the big dumb

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I totally remember being taught this. It's just way easier to break down percentages in terms of the nearest 1% or 10% times the number in the percent times the number you're taking the percentage of. You don't have to do the math for the 1 or 10 percentage as long as you remember that a 10% means move the decimal left once and 1% means move the decimal left twice. The rest is just basic multiplication.

40% of 59 = 10% of 59 times 4.

So...

4x59=236

or

(4x50=200) + (4x9=36)= 236

10% means move the decimal left once,

Therefore 40% of 59 is 23.6

With that you can easily do more complex percentages mentally like...

62% of 35 = 10% of 35 times 6 plus 1% of 35 times 2.

35x6=180+30=210 at 10% so 21

plus

35x2=60+10=70 at 1% so 0.7

Therefore 62% of 35 = 21.7

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Seriously, why didn't anyone?! Would have made my life much easier.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

they absolutely taught you the commutative property and transitive property

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Yeah but they clearly taught it poorly

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 1 year ago

... because multiplication is commutative.

[–] [email protected] 68 points 1 year ago (1 children)

69% of 420 is equal to 420% of 69.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So, is 289.8 the magic, double "nice" number?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 year ago

Bro that's actually amazing

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idk if it’s the weed, the adderall, or the ADHD, but this thread is everything I need in my life.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Weed and Adderall sound like a dope ass combo.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago (3 children)

33% of 7 = 7% of 33

Bitch, this only works for certain easy maths.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 year ago (2 children)

29% of 29 is 29% of 29

Fuck, this trick sucks.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

33% is the easy one.... 1/3 of 6 is 2, 1/3 of 1 is 0.33... 2.33..

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

1% of 33 is .33

.33 × 7 =

.3 x 7 = 2.1

.03 x 7 = .21

21 + 2.1 = 2.31

So

7% of 33 = 2.31

You could also do

33% of 7

10% of 7 is .7

1% of 7 is .07

So 11% is .77

.77 × 3 =

.7 × 3 = 2.1

.07 × 3 = .21

2.1 + .21 = 2.31

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's pretty damned intensive for a trick that's supposed to make the maths easier.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (7 children)

....I mean, yeah? If the number is 50 or 10 that works out great. But let's try that with 7% of 13. Now it's 13% of 7. Just like you said, "much easier to calculate."

Okay, choosing prime numbers was intentionally mean on my part. But 3% of 9 becomes 9% of 3. 4% of 2 becomes 2% of 4. Can anyone honestly look me in the eye and tell me that this tip has helped them out in any meaningful way?

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

x% × y = x × y ÷ 100 This helps you out much more.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Its easier:

10% of a 100: 100 * 0,1 = 10

2,5% of 33: 33 * 0,025 = 30 * 0,025 + 3 * 0,025 = 0,75 + 0,075 = 0,825

Thats how I calculate it mostly in my brain. But being smart I usually just type everything (like 9*9) in the calculator xD

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well, single digit percentages are easy. If it helps, move your decimal to the right so 9% becomes 90%. You can probably calculate 90% of 3 because you can do 10% and subtract it and get 2.7. Now move your decimal back to the left and you get 9% of 3 which is 0.27. You can do the same with higher percentages once you learn to break them in to 10% pieces.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're really asking whether commutativity of multiplication has ever helped anyone? Because that's what this is.

And yes it has helped me eg. estimate things or whatever along the years – but of course it's not going to be some sort of magical mathematics trick where just by reversing the numbers it'll always make things easier to calculate in your head

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

No, I think we all learned that multiplication is commutative in late elementary school, and obviously that's an important thing to know.

But I think the original post tried to make it out to be some magical mathematical trick, and I really don't understand that. Maybe I misunderstood the post.

Edit: wow, "commutative" is a really hard word to spell.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I think this is more about how you interpreted it, because it doesn't look like others took it as being an absolute magic trick rule and neither did I.

The Panzer of the Lake didn't use the word "commutativity" (fuck that really is hard to spell), but it gave out some wisdom that applied that rule by saying that "percentages are reversible": if the reverse of a percentage would be easier to calculate, you can use it and get the same answer. If it's not easier, well, then you're screwed 😁 Oooooor depending on the situation you can use the a × b% = a × b / 100 commutativity trick:

7 × 8% = 0.56

7 × 8 / 100 = 0.56

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Oh, that is actually much more helpful. So, if you know your times tables, you can do percentages. You just have to use communitavatization.

Jokes aside, I really appreciate it. That made it much more easier to understand. Thank you.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd find 9% of 3 easier for sure. Sometimes it's easier sometimes it's not. Just use it when it's easier.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Wait are you questioning the wisdom of panzer of the lake?!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I read that now not for the first Time

I still dont believe it

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You can work it out yourself. 6% is the same as 6/100, so 6% of 50 is (6/100)*50. Then do some algebra and see if you can jiggle it to say (50/100)*6. Then replace 6 and 50 with Greek letters so it looks more convincing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Nah, I prefer to treat my math problems like climate change. With denial.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You could also do 6*50 and then divide by 100.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In the meme example you wouldn't, but if you were trying to figure out Something like 2% of 5, it's easier to do (2 * 5)/100=0.1 then to do .02 * 5 or .05 * 2.

My comment was mainly pointing out that you can multiply those numbers in whatever order you want.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Thanks Panzer

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Also, a surprising number of people don't know that precentages are more often than not represented as decimals between 0 and 1 as opposed to actually a number out of 100 when used in calculations (because the concept of a percent doesn't really exist in math, it's just a context specific way of formatting a decimal). A lot of people just enter 69 when calculating a formula that operates on a precentage instead of 0.69 which obviously makes the formula useless, or if a formula is supposed to output a precentage, they assume that it output 0.69 percent instead of 69 percent.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Same energy as multiplication with 9, just take 1 from the right side and put it on the left

(09, 18, 27, 36, 45)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Instructions unclear...

09, 108, 1107, 11106, 111105

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Keep doing this until you get a binary number and then your pc can do the rest for you

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Found the JavaScript developer

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