Okay, so, this “75 of 46” thing, right? Sounds fancy, but it ain’t nothin’ but figuring out a piece of somethin’. Like, if you got 46 apples and I take 75 of ’em… well, not really 75 whole apples, ’cause that’s more than you got! It’s like, a part of them 46 apples.
Now, how we gonna figure this out? We gotta do some… what they call it? “Calculations.” Sounds scary, but it ain’t. Think of it like this: you got a pie, and you cut it into 100 pieces. If I take 75 of them pieces, I took 75 percent of the pie. Same thing here, but with 46 apples instead of a pie, and we gotta figure out what 75 pieces of that 46 would be.
So, here’s what I do, the easy way. I take that 46, see, and I times it by 75. Seventy-five times forty-six. You know, like when you buy five candies for ten cents each, you gotta pay fifty cents? Same idea. But this time, we got bigger numbers.
- First, you take 5 times 6. That’s 30. Put down the 0, carry the 3.
- Then 5 times 4, that’s 20, plus the 3 you carried, makes 23. So now you got 230.
- Next, you move on to the 7. But it ain’t just 7, it’s 70, ’cause it’s in the tens place. So, you put a 0 down under the 0 in 230. Gotta keep things lined up, you know, like planting corn in a straight row.
- Then, 7 times 6 is 42. Put down the 2, carry the 4.
- And last, 7 times 4 is 28, plus the 4 you carried, makes 32. So, you got 3220.
Now, you gotta add them two numbers together: 230 and 3220. That gives ya 3450. But hold on, we ain’t done yet! Remember that pie cut into 100 pieces? We gotta do the same here, kinda. We gotta divide that 3450 by 100. Easy peasy. Just move the… what they call it? The “decimal point.” It’s like a little dot. Move it two places to the left. So, 3450 becomes 34.50.
So, 75 of 46 is 34.5. That means if you got 46 apples, and I take 75 percent of ’em, I get 34 and a half apples. Course, you can’t really have half an apple, but you get the idea. It’s like you have 34 apples and then just a bite of another one.
Now, some folks, they like to do this different. They use them… “fractions” and “decimals.” Too much trouble, I say. My way works just fine. You just gotta remember your times tables. And if you don’t remember, well, you can just add things up a bunch of times. Like, 75 times 46 is the same as adding 46 to itself 75 times. Takes longer, but you get the same answer.
This “percentage” thing, it’s just a fancy way of talkin’ ‘bout parts of a whole. Like, if I say I ate 50 percent of the cake, that means I ate half of it. If I say I ate 100 percent of the cake, well, that means I ate the whole darn thing! And if I ate 0 percent, that means I didn’t touch it. Simple as that.
And you know, this ain’t just for apples and pies. You can use this for anything. Money, land, even time. Like, if you gotta work for 8 hours, and you take a break for 25 percent of that time, you gotta figure out what 25 percent of 8 hours is. Same thing, just different numbers.
You can also use them online “calculators” if you get stuck. I hear young folks use them all the time. Just punch in the numbers and it spits out the answer. But I always say, it’s good to know how to do it yourself. You can’t always rely on those fancy machines, you know. What if the power goes out? Then what? You gotta use your brain, that’s what!
So, next time you see somethin’ like “75 of 46” or “20 percent of 100,” don’t you go gettin’ all flustered. Just remember what I told ya. Times the numbers, then divide by 100 if it’s a percentage thing. And if all else fails, just think about pies and apples. It always helps me.
And one more thing, if you wanna learn more about this stuff, there’s books and things out there. But honestly, the best way to learn is to just practice. Do a few problems every day, and pretty soon you’ll be a whiz at it. Just like me!
Tags: [math, percentage, calculations, simple math, problem solving, arithmetic, numbers, learning, education, easy math]
