What does percentage mean?

Answer 1

In mathematics, a percentage is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100 (per cent meaning "per hundred". It is often denoted using the percent sign, "%". For example, 45% (read as "forty five percent" is equal to 45 / 100, or 0.45.

Percentages are used to express how large one quantity is relative to another quantity. The first quantity usually represents a part of, or a change in, the second quantity. For example, an increase of $ 0.15 on a price of $ 2.50 is an increase by a fraction of 0.15 / 2.50 = 0.06. Expressed as a percentage, this is therefore a 6% increase.

Although percentages are usually used to express numbers between zero and one, any dimensionless proportionality can be expressed as a percentage. For instance, 111% is 1.11 and −0.35% is −0.0035.

Answer 2

From Latin "cent" means hundred.

Percentage is equivalent to "parts per hundred".