Percentage Questions with Solutions

A percentage expresses a number as a fraction of 100. It is one of the most important topics in quantitative aptitude because profit and loss, simple and compound interest, data interpretation and many word problems are built on it. Questions test percentage increase and decrease, successive percentage changes, the effect of a price change on consumption or expenditure, population growth, election and examination results, and comparisons such as "by what percent is A more than B". Learning fraction equivalents (1/6 = 16.67%, 1/7 = 14.28%, 1/9 = 11.11% and so on) lets you avoid long division. For two successive changes of a% and b%, the net change is a + b + ab/100, a formula that saves time in many questions. Work through the percentage questions below. Each one has a step-by-step solution and, where possible, a fraction-based shortcut.