Percentage of a range of numbers

FormulaZero

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Good morning. I'm looking for assistance with a math problem Ive been racking my brain over the past few days.
I need to find the percentage of a range of numbers. I have a range of 20 numbers from 14.72 down to 0.17. Since 14.72 is the highest number in the range. It would be 100%. 0.17 holds some value, so of course it would not be 0%. How would I calculate to find the percentage of the numbers in the range? If needed, the numbers I have are 14.72, 10.63, 10.12, 7.82, 7.61, 5.39, 5.08, 4.78, 4.78, 4.05, 3.75, 3.63, 3.40, 3.19, 3.02, 2.60, 2.46, 2.07, 0.74, and 0.17
After that is found, I then need to have 100% only hold a value of 40%. Each value I am calulating is part of a scoring system and these numbers in the range are only 40% of the total score. There are other aspects to the score that will be calculated seperately. Good luck mathemeticians!
 
Disregard this request. I figured out the problem on my own. I must have been thinking into it too much and believing it was more complicated than it actually was. For those who are in the same boat, here is how I came to my answer:
Take each number in the range and divide it by the highest. For example: 10.63 / 14.72 = 0.7221 * 100 = 72.21%
For the second part of my question, take the answer from the first part and multiply it by the percentage needed. For example: 0.7221 * 0.40 = 0.2884 * 100 = 28.84%
 
That is correct, assuming that the 14.72 is the actual maximum possible, but the 0.17 is not the actual minimum, but rather 0 is. Not knowing the details of your application, I'll have to trust you on that. It would not surprise me if the range of possible values were really something like 0 to 15, so that 14.72 really corresponds to only 98% of the range, or 39.25 out of 40.

Just to comment on your notation, a statement like 10.63 / 14.72 = 0.7221 * 100 = 72.21%, called a running equal sign, is technically incorrect, though common. The equal signs mean that everything connected by them is equal, so that what you wrote really means "10.63 / 14.72, 0.7221 * 100, and 72.21% are three equal quantities", which they are not. What you mean should be written as "10.63 / 14.72 = 0.7221, and 0.7221 * 100 = 72.21%". Math people will care about this, others may be fine with it -- or they may not be sure what you have said.

In writing about percentages, we can just say 10.63 / 14.72 = 0.7221 = 72.21%, since 72.21% means 0.7221.

But quibbles aside, good work!
 
i will quibble that you wrote 0.7221 * 100 = 72.21%. To the OP, Dr Peterson I suspect meant to write 0.7221 * 100% = 72.21%. Note 100%=1.
 
i will quibble that you wrote 0.7221 * 100 = 72.21%. To the OP, Dr Peterson I suspect meant to write 0.7221 * 100% = 72.21%. Note 100%=1.
That's exactly how I express it when I teach the subject; but here I was quoting the OP's work for comparison, not presenting that as the best way. (At least that's my excuse.)
 
Dr Peterson, I respect your teaching ability more than you can imagine. But let's be truthful, 0.7221*100 = 72.21 which does not equal 72.21%.
The reason you can multiply by 100% is because it equals 1. Why not tell the student just that. Remember, equal signs but be valid.
 
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