# percentages **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511 "2011-11-10T15:18:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/1 "2011-11-10T15:18:44Z")
Forgive me, its been a while since I was in school and needed to work out percentages. There was a political race, 3 candidates. One got 908, one got 746, the other 234. What percentage did each get? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/2 "2011-11-10T15:35:22Z")
percent = candidates votes / total votes x 100 Total votes = 908 + 746 + 234 = 1888 Candidate 1: 908/1888 x 100 = 48% Candidate 2: 746/1888 x 100 = 40% Candidate 3: 234/1888 x 100 = 12% (Note - I rounded all of the numbers to the nearest percent) ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/3 "2011-11-10T15:38:56Z")
908 + 746 + 234 = 1888 Each candidate’s percentage is the number of votes they got, divided by the total, times 100. For instance, candidate #1’s percentage is (908/1888)\*100 Just in case this is a homework problem, I’ll leave the final steps to you. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/4 "2011-11-10T15:41:04Z")
thanks. Not homework, I wanted to know what percentage I got (12). Thanks for telling me how to figure it in the future. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/5 "2011-11-10T15:43:02Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > percent = candidates votes / total votes x 100 > > Total votes = 908 + 746 + 234 = 1888 > > Candidate 1: 908/1888 x 100 = 48% > Candidate 2: 746/1888 x 100 = 40% > Candidate 3: 234/1888 x 100 = 12% > > (Note - I rounded all of the numbers to the nearest percent) In the fine tradition of SDMP nit picking… Candidate 1: (908/1888) x 100 = 48% Candidate 2: (746/1888) x 100 = 40% Candidate 3: (234/1888) x 100 = 12% 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/6 "2011-11-10T16:14:44Z")
More nitpickery. It’s not uncommon for a table of rounded percentages like this to fail to add up to 100% (for example if three candidates all got exactly one third of the total). It’s better to add a comment to this effect than to coerce the rounding. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/7 "2011-11-10T18:14:53Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > In the fine tradition of SDMP nit picking… > > Candidate 1: (908/1888) x 100 = 48% > Candidate 2: (746/1888) x 100 = 40% > Candidate 3: (234/1888) x 100 = 12% > > 🙂 Technically, A / B x C is equivalent to (A / B) x C, since the order of operations goes left-to-right in this case. But the ‘unnecessary’ parentheses are still a good idea in order to provide clarity. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/8 "2011-11-10T18:59:22Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Technically, A / B x C is equivalent to (A / B) x C, since the order of operations goes left-to-right in this case. But the ‘unnecessary’ parentheses are still a good idea in order to provide clarity. I agree with both points, but issues like this have proved [surprisingly controversial](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=606537). It is indeed better to err on the side of clarity. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/9 "2011-11-11T19:00:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I agree with both points, but issues like this have proved [surprisingly controversial](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=606537). BigBertha must have been controversial, too. 🙂 What did you do (or not do) to get 7 out of 8 voters to choose someone else? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentages/602511/10 "2011-11-12T15:48:52Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > BigBertha must have been controversial, too. 🙂 > > What did you do (or not do) to get 7 out of 8 voters to choose someone else? How do you know she did anything? Maybe they did something to get votes that she didn’t. If I remember correctly, this was **BB** ’s first attempt at this sort of thing.