How to Convert Decimal to Percent in 2 Easy Steps
Math Skills: How Do You Convert a Decimal to Percent?
Learn how to convert decimal to percent.
Understanding how to convert decimal to percent is an important and useful math skill with applications inside the classroom and in the real world.
This free Step-by-Step Guide on How to Convert Decimal to Percent will teach you a simple 2-step method to converting a decimal to a percent whenever you are solving math problems are dealing with real-world scenarios involving decimals and percents. This free guide is organized based on the following topics:
You can work through each section in sequential order, or you can click on any of the text links above to jump to any particular section of this guide.
Are you ready to learn how to convert decimal to percent? Let’s get started!
Lesson Preview: How to Convert Decimal to Percent in Two Steps.
How to Convert a Decimal to a Percent
Before we learn the step-by-step process for how to convert a decimal to a percent, it’s important that you understand some key vocabulary and concepts related to decimals and percents.
Definition: In math, a decimal is a way of expressing a whole number that has a fractional part (where the fractional part is always out of 10 or a multiple of 10). These types of numbers include a whole number and a fractional part that are separated by a decimal point.
Definition: In math, a percent is a number that can be expressed as a fraction with a denominator of 100.
Whenever you are converting a decimal to a percent, you are essentially converting a fraction with a denominator of 10 (or a multiple of 10) to a fraction with a denominator of 100.
It is important to note that decimals and percents are two different ways to express the same value. In some cases, it will be more useful to work with numbers as decimals. And, in other cases, it will be more useful to work with numbers as percents. Knowing how to easily convert a decimal to percent will allow you to be successful in both types of situations.
Figure 01: The decimal 0.75 converted to a percent is 75%. Both values represent 75/100.
How to Convert a Decimal to a Percent in 2 Steps
Now that you are familiar with the relationship between a decimal and a percent, you are ready to learn our easy 2-step method for how to convert a decimal to percent.
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
As long as you can follow these two steps, you can easily convert a decimal to a percent.
For example, let’s use our two-step method to convert the decimal 0.75 to a percent.
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
Our first step is to take the decimal 0.75 and multiply it by 100 as follows:
0.75 x 100 = 75
Note that multiplying a decimal by 100 is the same as taking the decimal point and moving it two places to the right. In this case, multiplying 0.75 results in 75.0, or just 75.
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
The next step is to take your result from Step One and express it as a percentage as follows:
75 → 75%
Final Answer: 0.75 = 75%
Note that you can express your final answer as 75% or 75.0% (either one is correct).
Figure 02: You can convert a decimal to a percent by multiplying the decimal by 100 (or simply by shifting the decimal point two places to the right).
Now that you know how to convert a decimal to percent using our 2-step method, let’s gain some more practice and experience making conversions by working through a few more practice problems.
How Do You Convert a Decimal to Percent?
Convert Decimal to Percent Example #1
Example: Convert 0.5 to a percent.
For this first example, we want to convert the decimal 0.5 to a percent. We can make this conversion by following our 2-step method as follows:
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
For Step One, we have to multiply the decimal value 0.5 by 100 as follows:
0.5 x 100 = 50
Again, if you are unsure of how to multiply a decimal by 100, you can find the answer simply by shifting the decimal point two places to the right.
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
Finally, we have to take our result from Step One and express it as a percent (i.e. express the value from Step One with a percentage sign attached to it) as follows:
50 → 50%
Final Answer: 0.50 = 50%
So, we can say that the decimal 0.50 is equal to 50%.
The step-by-step process for solving this first example is illustrated in Figure 03 below.
Figure 03: How to Convert Decimal to Percent.
Now, let’s move onto the next example.
Convert Decimal to Percent Example #2
Example: Convert 0.36 to a percent.
Let’s go ahead and use our two-step method to solve this next example.
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
Just like we did in the last example, our first step to converting a decimal to percent is to multiply the percent by 100:
0.36 x 100 = 36
Remember that multiplying a decimal by 100 is the same thing as moving the decimal point two places to the right.
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
For the second step, we have to express our result from Step One as a percentage:
36 → 36%
Final Answer: 0.36 = 36%
Are you starting the get the hang of it? Figure 04 below shows how we used our two-step method to solve Example #2.
Figure 04: How Do You Convert a Decimal to Percent?
Convert Decimal to Percent Example #3
Example: Convert 0.08 to a percent.
For this third example, we can again use our 2-step method to make this conversion:
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
First, multiply the decimal by 100:
0.08 x 100 = 8
You could have also just moved the decimal point to places to the right as follows:
0.08 → 8.0 or 8
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
Next, we just have to express our result from Step One as a percentage:
8 → 8%
Final Answer: 0.08 = 8%
Figure 05 below illustrates how we solved Example #3.
Figure 05: Decimal to Percent: 0.08 = 8%
Convert Decimal to Percent Example #4
Example: Convert 0.045 to a percent.
Let’s continue using our two-step method to solve this problem:
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
Start off by multiplying the decimal by 100:
0.045 x 100 = 4.5
Note that you would end up with the same result (4.5) if you had just moved the decimal point two places to the right:
0.045 → 4.5
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
Finally, we can express the result from Step One as a percent as follows:
4.5 → 4.5%
Final Answer: 0.045 = 4.5%
Figure 06: Convert a Decimal to Percent: 0.045 = 4.5%
Convert Decimal to Percent Example #5
Example: Convert 1.39 to a percent.
We can use our two-step method for how to convert decimal to percent to solve this final example:
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
The first step is to multiply the decimal by 100 as follows:
1.39 x 100 = 139
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
Next, express the answer from the first step as follows:
139 → 139%
Final Answer: 1.39 = 139%
Figure 07: Decimal to Percent Conversion: Example #5
Conclusion: How to Convert Decimal to Percent
Knowing how to quickly convert decimal to percent is a useful and important math skill with many academic and real-world applications.
You can easily convert a decimal to a percent by using a simple two-step method:
Step One: Multiply the Decimal Value by 100
Multiplying a decimal by 100 is the same as moving the decimal point two places to the right.
Step Two: Write the Result as a Percentage.
In this step-by-step guide, we used this two-step method to make the following conversions from decimal to percent:
0.5 = 50%
0.36 = 36%
0.08 = 8%
0.045 = 4.5%
1.39 = 139%
