The Hidden Story of Fractions, Decimals & Percentages

You’ve probably learned fractions, decimals and percentages as three separate units in maths class. But here’s a fun twist: they’re just different outfits for the same mathematical idea—parts of a whole. Why do we juggle all three, and where did they come from? Stick around as we follow their surprising origin story, debunk a common mix-up and spot them in your everyday world.

Where did this come from?

Back in the Middle Ages, Italian merchants needed a quick way to calculate tax and profit. They used the phrase per cento—‘for every hundred’—and wrote it as “pc.” Over time, the letters collapsed into the handy % symbol we use today. Meanwhile, Jain mathematicians in India around the 5th century worked with fractions like ½ and ⅓, and it was only in the 16th century that Arab mathematicians refined the decimal point, making calculations even more precise.

Where you'll see this in real life

1. Shopping discounts: That 25% off at your favourite store? It’s 1⁄4 of the price, just dressed up as a percentage to catch your eye. 2. Cooking and recipes: Many recipes use fractions—like ¾ cup of flour—but switching to decimals (0.75) helps if you’re scaling the recipe by 1.5x. 3. Bank interest: Savings accounts use percentages (annual interest rates), but interest calculations often convert those rates into decimals behind the scenes. 4. Sports stats: Batting averages in cricket or baseball use decimals (e.g., 0.333) which originally came from fraction data.

A common misconception

It’s easy to think that decimals are always “better” than fractions because calculators handle them easily. But fractions can be more exact—0.3333 is just an approximation of ⅓. When you need precision, especially in algebra or geometry proofs, leaving answers as fractions often keeps your work cleaner and error-free.