7/40 as a percentage is 17.50%. This means that if you split something into 40 equal parts, taking 7 of those parts gives you just under one‑fifth of the whole.
In everyday language, 17.50% is a small slice. For example, if a pizza is cut into 40 slices, eating 7 slices would be about the same as eating a little more than one slice out of every six.
Seeing the number as a percent can help you compare it with other values. A discount of 20% is a little larger, while a tax of 15% is a bit smaller than the value of 7/40.
Remember, whenever you see 17.50%, you can think of it as the fraction 7/40 turned into a percent, rounded to two decimal places.
