NLN NEX Math Practice Test

Percent is a ratio of the part to the whole. The common relationship is part = percent × whole, with the percent written as a decimal. When you want to find the percent from given part and whole, you rearrange to percent = part ÷ whole.

For example, what percent of 40 is 8? The part is 8 and the whole is 40, so percent = 8/40 = 0.2. As a percent, that’s 20%. So using percent = part/whole directly gives you the percent value you’re looking for.