[X4U] Tiger's Calculator.app no longer does percentages?

[Eugene]

On Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 07:43:54AM CST, Kuestner, Bjoern <Bjoern.Kuestner at drkw.com> wrote:
: Eugene wrote:
: >
: > "1 + 1 = 200%" makes no sense at all.  "200%" of what?
: 
: The whole point is to underline that the %-symbol is just another way of
: writing "*1/100" or "divide by 100". In fact, that's how the %-symbol
: started in the first place.
: 
: http://www.roma.unisa.edu.au/07305/symbols.htm#Percent

Nice page on the historical origins, but it does not invalidate
my statement that percentages always must include a quantity that
is expressed in English as "...of what".

: I can see where you are coming from because asking "x% of what" is how
: percentages are commonly used almost 100% (c: of the time. 

That's how it's always used.  It cannot be used by itself as a
form of pure number that can be swapped into typical algebra.
You're treating "%" as some form of factor label for "/ 100".

: But at the end of the day, 1% is still nothing else but 1/100.
: That's the definition of percentage: A fraction. 
: You absolutely do not have to use another factor behind a percentage or any
: other fraction.
: You do not _have to_ specify "of what" any more than if you write "0.01".
: 
: Take it from teachers:
: http://webinstituteforteachers.org/99/teams/rationals/glossary.html

If it's a pure number, it's a pure number.  A percentage is not
a pure number.

: Take it from Wikipedia:
: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent 
: "'one percent', represented by the symbol %, is simply the number 1/100, or
: 0.01"

Hmmm.  That same Wiki article sums up my position:
>
> Whenever we talk about a percentage, it is important to
> specify what it is relative to, i.e. what the total is that
> corresponds to 100%.

That is to say, "of what".


-- 
Eugene
http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/