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7-10percentages

Finding Ten Percent Quickly

Use the divide-by-ten shortcut to find 10% of any money amount quickly and accurately without a calculator.

In this lesson

Finding Ten Percent Quickly is part of Percentages in Money. This preview shows how percentages connects to everyday family decisions such as earning, saving, spending choices, goals, approvals, or parent-guided money conversations inside Progress Penguin.

Think about this money choice

Sade needs to find ten percent of 3000 in local currency quickly in her head at the market.

How it works

To find 10% of any amount in your head, simply drop the last zero or move the decimal point one place to the left. 10% of 3000 in local currency = 300 in local currency. 10% of 450 in local currency = 45 in local currency. This shortcut works for any number and is the fastest mental maths trick in everyday money situations.

Try a real-life example

Real-life money moment: Sade is at the market and needs to find 10% of 3000 in local currency to calculate a discount. She drops the last zero: 300 in local currency. Done in one second. The seller charges her 2700 in local currency — she confirms: 3000 in local currency − 300 in local currency = 2700 in local currency. Correct.

Activity preview

Move the money slider

Use what you learned to complete this short challenge.

Practice funding your spending account

Open Requests and make a deposit request so you can see how money gets added before spending. Parent approval can happen later.

Quiz preview

Finding Ten Percent Quickly means:

Moving the decimal point two places to the right
Adding a zero to the end of the original number
Dividing any amount by 10 to get 10% of that total
Multiplying any amount by 10 to find the percentage

10% of 8000 in local currency is:

80 in local currency — found by dividing 8000 in local currency by 100
80000 in local currency — found by multiplying 8000 in local currency by 10
8000 in local currency — the percentage equals the original total
800 in local currency — found by dividing 8000 in local currency by 10