Question

Express each percent as a fraction in the simplest form.

$20\%$

Short answer

The simplest form is $\frac{1}{5}$.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. The concept of percent.

Percent means parts per hundred. It is indicated by the symbol %.

Step 2. Express percent as fraction form then simplify it.

To express any number to a fraction that is in percent form, divide that number by 100 and drop that percent sign.

So, the fractional form of 20% is given by

$20\%=\frac{20}{100}$

Step 3. Simplify the fraction.

Now, to simplify further, cancel out the common factors from numerator and denominator as shown below:

$\begin{array}{c}\frac{20}{100}=\frac{20\cdot 1}{20\cdot 5}\\ =\frac{1}{5}\end{array}$

Therefore, the simplest form is $\frac{1}{5}$.