Many of us have hardly retained anything from our school years, especially mathematics classes.
Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that adults tend to use their phone calculators to compute the most basic additions and subtractions.
But one calculator feature, which people might especially enjoy upon shopping during sales, is to be able to deduce a percentage off a number.
Highlights
- Adults often use phones for basic math, highlighting reliance on technology.
- Selina's video shares a math hack for calculating percentages without a calculator.
- Divide both numbers by 10, then multiply to find percentages easily.
- Example: 40% of 30 is calculated as 4x3, resulting in 12.
However, on the off and scary chance that one might find themselves devoid of their smartphones during Black Friday shopping for Christmas gifts, being able to calculate a percentage is undeniably a good skill to have.
A math hack has been circulating online that helps calculate percentages in an easier way
Image credits: gunsnrosesgirl3
Image credits: gunsnrosesgirl3
Selina, who runs the popular science-themed “gunsnrosesgirl3” X (formerly known as Twitter) account, shared a video on Monday (November 20) that could potentially revolutionize the way people calculate percentages.
One of the better-known methods to calculate percentages is to simply multiply the starting number by the percentage number as a fraction.
You can take a look at the simple method below
Image credits: Annie Spratt
Nevertheless, this method once again might often require the use of a calculator, for those who would identify themselves as not being the most mathematically knowledgeable people.
As a result, Selina’s video, which has been viewed 11.8 million times, exposes an easy hack to get around percentages.
You simply need to divide two numbers by ten and then multiply them by each other
Image credits: Joshua Hoehne
It demonstrates that you would simply need to divide two numbers by ten and then multiply them by each other.
As a result, it would look like this following example: 40 percent of 30 is 4 x 3, which equals 12.
Unilad has demonstrated the calculation with the example of a restaurant bill amounting to $87.50.
To get the 20 percent for, for example, your tip, you calculate 2 x 8.75, which would equal a tip of $17.50.
For example: 40 percent of 30 is 4 x 3, which equals 12
Image credits: ThisIsEngineering
“Something as neat and efficient as this will never be taught in public education,” an X user commented.
A person tried to challenge other X users with the following problem: “Now do 41% of 30…” to which a person replied: “That should be 4.1 x 3 = 12.3?”
Image credits: Mikhail Nilov
The person who challenged fellow X users with the seemingly complicated request went on to congratulate the individual who took up the challenge and wrote: “Bingo! I don’t know why the video didn’t show how to do it with numbers that do not finish with 0.”
In other math news, a trend branded “girl math” has taken social media by storm, which has seen women posting their hilarious reasoning when shopping, packing, and saving time and money.
An example of girl math consists of not paying $15 in shipping, and instead spending another $30 in order to benefit from the free shipping.
Many people had never seen the method before
