• pyre@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I guess it’s easy to miss that m% just means ×m÷100

      6% of 50 means 50 × 6 ÷ 100, and because multiplication and division have the same order of operations you can switch them around. so it is also equal to 6 × 50 ÷ 100, in which you can simplify 50 ÷ 100 into 1 ÷ 2, but you could always do that: 50 × 6 ÷ 100 = 1 × 6 ÷ 2.

      this “shortcut” however is of extremely limited use. basically for taking a percentage of anything other than things that can very easily divide or multiply 100 like 50 in this example or maybe 10 or 500 it’s nearly useless.

  • wabasso@lemmy.ca
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    6 days ago

    x/100 * y = x * 1/100 * y = x * y/100

    I never would have thought of it myself and still feel like I should have thought of it myself.

    • chocrates@piefed.world
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      6 days ago

      So 37 % of 38 is equivalent to (37 * 38 ) / 100 ? Which I can almost do in my head.

      37 * 4 is 148 I think, so 37 * 40 is 1480. Subtract 74 we have 1406. So we have 14.06?

      • wabasso@lemmy.ca
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        6 days ago

        For a while I’ve been meaning to memorize all the two digit squares but of course I then fail to practice them, so I’m not very far along. But that would help you with this too, not to mention you can start doing some square roots too.

        For quick and dirty I’d probably just go with 37*38 = 40*40 -> 16% which is kinda close to 14% eh?

      • jbrains@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        Pretty close to 1/4 of 52, so like 13-ish, but maybe closer to 12.

        (13 + 0.25 - 0.53 - 0.53, really. If I had to, I might be able to keep that in my head.)

        • minkymunkey_7_7@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          May as well just get out the calculator app to make sure. My point with those numbers is to just use a calculator. Why 2nd guess anything?

          • jbrains@sh.itjust.works
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            5 days ago

            If “close enough” works, then it’s nice to have the skill. Having the skill requires occasionally using it.

            Where accuracy is important, since we almost always have a calculator with us now, that’s a no-brainer.

            Maybe more to the point, though, understanding how percentages work is wise. It’s one of the few arithmetic topics that we encounter regularly in life.

            In this case, 23% of 53 and 53% of 23 each have their own little trick, depending whether you’d rather overestimate a little with 1/4 of 52 or underestimate a little with half of 24. I find it handy to be able to think that way, especially for example when trying to get out of a taxi and paying cash.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Or, more generally:

      Taking X percent of something is the same as multiplying by X/100.

      X percent of Y = Y(X/100)=(YX)/100

      Y percent of X = X(Y/100)=(XY)/100

      (YX)/100=(XY)/100

      Percentages are indeed reversible.

  • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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    6 days ago

    Legitimately new knowledge for me that will literally make my work easier. Wish I could give you more than 100% of 1 upvote, OP!

  • Furbag@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    This is the coolest trick since I learned about the “quick 20% tip on your tab” method. Take the total bill, move the decimal point one place over to the left, then multiply it by 2 to get 20% gratuity. I will sometimes round down on the change to make it closer to 18%. Also I only really need to do this when I’m drunk and can’t maths.

    • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Why would you multiply by 2? 10% is a good tip.

      As long as wages are supplemented by customers, the restaurant industry will never pay their employees a fair wage.

      • pishadoot@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        10% is in fact, not a good tip, despite your misplaced morals. You think by stiffing servers that restaurants will care? Do you honestly think that will make a difference, or are you just cheap? Build the cost of a tip into what you expect to pay for a meal out or don’t eat out. Tip culture sucks but it’s the standard and you don’t have to like the standard but fix it at the ballot box, not at the dinner table.

      • untorquer@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        As a former service worker,

        1. fuck you
        2. this is NOT solidarity
        3. bosses won’t pay more because you pay less
        4. pay tips in cash. PAY TIPS IN CASH IF POSSIBLE
        • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Why cash? So you can split my $5 with the other 20 staff members? Or so you can hide it from your team? If your boss is taking money from the tip pool paid through card transactions that’s illegal. You are forcing industry problems onto the customer and frankly it’s not my problem. I feel bad for you but all I have are likes and prayers. I’m not gonna let employees who are scared to hold their employers accountable to guilt trip me into giving them my money. 10% is extremely reasonable considering the standard for service in restaurants right now. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have to go find a staff member to get a refill.

          • untorquer@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            In restaurant cash isn’t always as important. However the boss/power dynamic and employment laws can mean service workers are often left with little to no bargaining power.

            Cash is more important for food delivery services so the company doesn’t take a majority cut. Though, judging by your statements, I’m guessing you feel insulted by the very idea of tipping for delivery.

            • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              “Little to no bargaining power” doesn’t mean anything. You hold your boss accountable to treating you fairly. I met a kid that last year worked in a cash only Vietnamese sandwich shop. Only white kid there. He essentially unionized the place and stopped the owner from stealing their tips.

              If a 20 year old can stand up to person like that when he can barely speak the language, I don’t want to hear about how a group of Americans who don’t have to fear of getting deported or send any money back home to feed their family struggle in the work environment.

              It really sounds like a crazy story but he did it and probably changed some of those workers lives. And don’t even get me started on delivery fees that for whatever reason the workforce agreed shouldn’t be paid to them.

      • Furbag@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        I don’t like tip culture either, but I’m not going to stiff the guy making federal minimum wage.

        If I’m drunk and having a good time, 20% seems fair to me. You can pay whatever you think is fair, I’m not passing judgement on that account.

  • Grerkol@leminal.space
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    5 days ago

    Most of the people explaining this still make it more complicated than it needs to be, imo.

    I just think the symbol “%” algebraically means 0.01

  • FiskFisk33@startrek.website
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    6 days ago

    That’s because multiplication is commutative

    taking a percentage of something essentially means multiplying it with a hundreath of the percentage
    6% of 50 essentially means 50 * 0.06
    or 50 * 6 * 0.01

    and since
    50 * 6 * 0.01 = 6 * 50 * 0.01
    then of course
    50 * 0.06 = 6 * 0.5

    And we have the above

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 days ago

      Yeah my brain just sees 5*6, and then I move the decimal. I never understood how people couldn’t figure out tips when they wanted 20%.

      If you live in the U.S. you do them quite often, multiply by 2. Want 10 multiply by .1… Half that and add it if you want 15. Whatever is easiest at that moment

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      I prefer to keep it technically correct yet evil and confusing. 6% being a fancy way to write 0.06 or 6 * 1/100 means we can take 6 * 50 * 1/100 and simplify to 300 * 1/100 and then represent that as 300%.

    • Johandea@feddit.nu
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      6 days ago

      … in 1 or 2 dimensional number systems, also known as the real (1-dimension) and the complex (2-dimensions) numbers. With quaternions and higher dimensional systems multiplication is not communicative. In fact, the more dimensions you add, another mathematical property is lost.

      • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        … okay? Yes? Nobody thought otherwise? Do we now have to clarify every statement about algebra by specifying that we’re talking about an algebra over the reals or the complex numbers? Or the polynomials or the p-adic integers, whose multiplications are also commutative?

        No one would call these “n-dimensional” number systems either. The algebra for each of these operates in R1 and R2, respectively, but, like, you would describe their algebras as being over an n-dimensional vector space. It’s not wrong, but I don’t think “two-dimensional number system” is something you’d hear mathematicians say.

        This pedantic aside feels so “I just watched a 3blue1brown video and feel verysmart™” that I don’t know what to do with it. It’s good to be interested in math, but this ain’t it. Everyone knew what they meant.

  • dohpaz42@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Yes, 47% of 47 is certainly much easier to determine when you look at it as 47% of 47! Genius!

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      5 days ago

      You can also

      Multiply one side, divide the other to get the base number to get the base number to 100.

      6% of 50 == 3% of 100 == 3

      5% of 20 == 1% of 100 == 1

      7% of 50 == 3.5℅ of 100 == 3.5

      14% of 200 == 7% of 100 == 7

      Edit* as pointed out below, this one was incorrect.

      14% of 200 == 28% of 100 == 28

      You don’t have to stop at percentage either.

      25 * 16 = 100 * 4

      If you’re doing addition, you can add and subtract.

      27 + 13 = 20 + 20

      Most of the difficulty is in realizing that one number or the other can be brought up to a nice round number, making the equation simple to do in your head. And obviously, just getting to around number on one side doesn’t always make it easy on the other side.

      I always loved screwing with math problems to make them easier, which is weird, because overall, I don’t really care for math.

      I also do shit like borrowing a couple of numbers to make the equation easy and then pull them back out.

      392 / 4 == (400 - 8) / 4 == (100-2) = 98

      376 / 4 == (400-24)/4 =100-6=94

      Of course it goes up a level when the remainder isn’t evenly divisible. But I still find it’s something I can handle in my head.

      371 / 4 == (400-29)/4= 100-7¼ =100-7.25=92.75

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          5 days ago

          I would argue you’re still doing the other side just subliminally. But it is a fair point.

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          5 days ago

          Oh shit, there I go getting along winded and get lost, yep, that should have been multiplied on the other side.

      • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Are you just out here doing common core math on here like it’s just some smart trick to make math easier?! You dirty bastard, some conservative is going to see this and think it’s a good idea, then they’ll just innocently do it in front of their conservative friends and all hell will break loose. Homosexual fornication will suddenly run rampant through the group and those few that can resist the call of the devils numbers will have to cull the rest. You know… Actually… I am not completely against that now that I think about it…

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          5 days ago

          Rofl, I pre-date common core. I’m not exactly sure to what extent they do all that stuff. I do know that they’ve got a fuck of a lot of numberlines, like so many number lines. Like they’re being paid by the number line.

          Back in the 80s and 90s, the teachers would do regular scrolling down arithmetic, and they would mention borrowing numbers and shortcuts. And I took that shit seriously because I did not like sitting down and adding/multiplying numbers. I’d probably spend an extra 30 seconds of problem if I thought I could not have to sit down and write equations.

          • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            That’s really cool. The borrowing thing is the part of common core that they teach in elementary, and it is the part that enrages conservatives. The point of the homework and practice questions is to repeatedly do the borrowing thing until it becomes automatic and something that they do in their heads all of the time. So, it absolutely enrages the right when kids get the correct answer, but lose points for doing the problem the wrong way.
            I was taught to do it the hard way and had to figure out the other tricks for myself much later in life, so now, even after decades of doing it your way, it’s more of a struggle than it should be and I just reach for my calculator instead. So I envy you quite a bit.

            Keep up the good work with your subversive teaching of common core principles as tips, tricks, cheats and shortcuts. That’s actually how they should have branded it, instead of common core, it should have been cheating core, then they would have been all for it.

            • rumba@lemmy.zip
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              5 days ago

              There’s nothing wrong with calculators.

              I wonder if the next generation is going to be reaching for AI for all their English needs.

              • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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                5 days ago

                I haven’t sent anything to anyone that wasn’t spell checked in more than a decade. So, ya it’s going to be a weird future where you just choose the comment you want to respond to and AI fills it out for you.

                • rumba@lemmy.zip
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                  5 days ago

                  Ohh man, think of training something on your own corpus of writing over the years.

                  god we could probably more or less do that now…

    • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Yeah stuff like that really ain’t it. It works in a few use cases, but is objectively wrong and detracts from understanding the topic properly. That’s why I teach percentages as the fractions they are. By the time you learn percentages, you already know multiplying fractions is commutative, so the trick still works, and you also understand why.