← tutorwarren.com Functional Skills Maths
Entry Level · Topic 1

Number

Fractions, decimals, percentages and rounding — using numbers in everyday life

What are fractions?

A fraction shows a part of a whole. When you cut a pizza into 4 equal slices and eat 1, you've eaten one quarter (¼) of it.

The bottom number (denominator) tells you how many equal parts the whole is split into. The top number (numerator) tells you how many parts you have.

½
One Half
¼
One Quarter
¾
Three Quarters
⅓
One Third
💡 Tip: To find ½ of something, divide by 2. To find ¼, divide by 4. To find ¾, divide by 4 then multiply by 3.

What are decimals?

Decimals are another way of writing parts of a whole — you see them every day with money (£3.49) and measurements (1.5 kg).

The digits after the decimal point represent tenths, hundredths, and so on. For example, 0.5 means five tenths — which is the same as ½.

0.5
= ½
0.25
= ¼
0.75
= ¾
0.1
= 1/10
💡 Ordering decimals: Line them up and compare digit by digit. 0.6 is bigger than 0.59 — always compare the tenths column first.

What are percentages?

A percentage means "out of 100". So 50% means 50 out of every 100 — which is the same as ½. You'll see percentages in sales, interest rates and statistics.

50%
= ½ = 0.5
25%
= ¼ = 0.25
10%
= 1/10 = 0.1
75%
= ¾ = 0.75
💡 Key rule: To find 10% of any number, divide by 10. To find 50%, divide by 2. To find 25%, divide by 4.

Rounding numbers

Rounding makes numbers simpler and easier to work with. To round a decimal to the nearest whole number:

Look at the digit after the decimal point. If it is 5 or more, round up. If it is less than 5, round down.

3.7
→ rounds to 4
3.2
→ rounds to 3
5.5
→ rounds to 6
9.1
→ rounds to 9
1Finding half of an amount
▼
A cinema ticket costs £14. Children get half price. How much is a child's ticket?
  1. 1Finding ½ of something means dividing by 2.
  2. 2£14 ÷ 2 = £7
✅ Answer: A child's ticket costs £7.
2Finding a quarter of an amount
▼
A bag of rice weighs 800 g. You use a quarter of it. How much do you use?
  1. 1Finding ¼ means dividing by 4.
  2. 2800 ÷ 4 = 200
✅ Answer: You use 200 g of rice.
3Finding 10% of an amount
▼
A jacket costs £60. There is a 10% discount. How much do you save?
  1. 110% means "10 out of every 100". To find 10%, divide by 10.
  2. 2£60 ÷ 10 = £6
✅ Answer: You save £6. The jacket costs £54 in the sale.
4Understanding fractions of a group
▼
There are 20 students in a class. 5 of them are absent. What fraction are absent?
  1. 1Write the fraction: 5/20 (5 absent out of 20 total).
  2. 2Simplify: both 5 and 20 divide by 5. 5÷5 = 1, 20÷5 = 4, so the fraction is 1/4.
✅ Answer: ¼ of the students are absent.
5Ordering decimals
▼
Put these prices in order from cheapest to most expensive: £2.50, £2.05, £2.55, £2.15
  1. 1The pounds (£2) are all the same, so compare the pence: .50, .05, .55, .15
  2. 2In order: 5p, 15p, 50p, 55p
  3. 3So the prices in order are: £2.05, £2.15, £2.50, £2.55
✅ Answer: £2.05, £2.15, £2.50, £2.55
6Rounding decimals
▼
A piece of wood measures 4.7 metres. Round this to the nearest whole metre.
  1. 1Look at the digit after the decimal point: 4.7
  2. 27 is 5 or more, so we round up.
  3. 34.7 → 5
✅ Answer: 5 metres.
Question 1
A bag of apples costs £3.20. It is half price in a sale. What is the sale price?
Question 2
What is 10% of £90?
Question 3
A pizza is cut into 8 slices. You eat 3 slices. What fraction did you eat?
Question 4
Which of these decimals is the largest?
Question 5
Round 7.3 to the nearest whole number.
Question 6
A recipe needs 200 ml of milk. You want to make ¾ of the recipe. How much milk do you need?
Question 7
Which of the following is the same as 50%?
Question 8
There are 30 people at a party. 6 of them are children. What fraction are children?