30/75 = 40%
A value of 40% might show up when a store advertises a discount, a survey reports how many people chose an option, or a student gets part of a set of questions right. It gives a quick sense of how large a share something is.
To picture 30/75, imagine a bar split into five equal sections, with about two sections shaded. That makes it easy to estimate the amount as a little less than half.
One common mix-up is treating 40% as the same as 40 percentage points. A 40% discount and a price that drops by 40 percentage points are not necessarily describing the same kind of change.
