What is 85 Percent of 20?
85% of 20 = 17
Step by step
- Turn the percentage into a decimal: 85 ÷ 100 = 0.85
- Multiply: 0.85 × 20 = 17
How the answer is worked out
“Percent” means “per hundred”, so 85% is 85 out of every 100, or 0.85 as a decimal. Taking 85% of 20 means multiplying 20 by 0.85, which gives 17.
17 is the 85% share of 20. The remaining 15% is 3, and the two parts add back up to 20.
Why calculate this?
Taking a percentage of a number is how discounts, tips, tax and interest are worked out.
- Discounts: 85% off an item priced $20 saves $17, so you pay $3.
- Tips: a 85% tip on a bill of $20 is $17, so the total is $37.
- Interest: simple interest of 85% a year on $20 earns $17 in one year and $85 over five years.
- Tax: a sales tax of 85% on a price of $20 adds $17, so the price including tax is $37.
A quicker way
Use 10% and 1%: 10% of 20 is 2 and 1% is 0.2. 85% is 8 × 10% + 5 × 1% = 16 + 1 = 17.
Swap the numbers if that is easier: 85% of 20 is always the same as 20% of 85, because both are 85 × 20 ÷ 100.
Check the answer
Work backwards: 17 ÷ 20 × 100 = 85%. Getting 85% back shows the answer is right.
Rounding
Rounded to a whole number the result is 17, to one decimal place 17.0 and to two decimal places 17.00. Round only at the end: rounding halfway through a calculation can change the last digit.
The formula explained
result = percentage ÷ 100 × number. Dividing the percentage by 100 turns it into a decimal multiplier, so 25% becomes 0.25 and 150% becomes 1.5. Multiplying the number by that decimal gives the share.
Another worked example: 16% of 19
- Turn the percentage into a decimal: 16 ÷ 100 = 0.16
- Multiply: 0.16 × 19 = 3.04
Common percentages of 20
10% of 20 is 2, 20% is 4, a quarter (25%) is 5, half (50%) is 10 and three quarters (75%) is 15. Knowing these makes it easy to estimate any other percentage of 20 in your head.
Adding and taking away 85%
Increasing 20 by 85% gives 37 and decreasing it by 85% gives 3. These do not cancel out: raising 20 by 85% and then lowering the result by 85% ends at 5.55, because the second 85% is taken of a bigger number.
Finding the original number
If 17 is 85% of something, divide by 0.85 to get it back: 17 ÷ 0.85 = 20. This is how you work out a price before tax or a full amount from a share of it.
Other ways to ask this
The same calculation is often asked in other words. All of these have the answer above:
- What is 85 percent of 20?
- 85% of 20
- 85 percent times 20
- Find 85% of 20
- How much is 85 per cent of 20?
Terms used on this page
- Percentage: the rate, the number with the % sign.
- Base: the number you take the percentage of.
- Decimal multiplier: the percentage divided by 100.
- Mark-up and discount: adding or taking away a percentage of a price.
The answer in other forms
| Result | 17 |
|---|---|
| Remaining | 3 |
| 85% as decimal | 0.85 |
| 20 + 85% | 37 |
Related results
| 5% of 20 | 5% of 20 = 1 |
| 10% of 20 | 10% of 20 = 2 |
| 15% of 20 | 15% of 20 = 3 |
| 20% of 20 | 20% of 20 = 4 |
| 25% of 20 | 25% of 20 = 5 |
| 50% of 20 | 50% of 20 = 10 |
| 75% of 20 | 75% of 20 = 15 |
The other way round: 20% of 85
Doing it in a spreadsheet
In Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers type =85%*20 into any cell. Replace the numbers with cell references (for example A1 and B1) to reuse the formula for a whole column.
Common mistakes
Forgetting to divide the percentage by 100 makes the answer 100 times too big. Note that x% of y always equals y% of x.
Practice examples
| 16% of 19 | Show answer16% of 19 = 3.04 |
| 70% of 4 | Show answer70% of 4 = 2.8 |
| 96% of 62 | Show answer96% of 62 = 59.52 |
| 93% of 24 | Show answer93% of 24 = 22.32 |
| 23% of 24 | Show answer23% of 24 = 5.52 |
| 80% of 49 | Show answer80% of 49 = 39.2 |
| 21% of 27 | Show answer21% of 27 = 5.67 |
| 4% of 75 | Show answer4% of 75 = 3 |
| 87% of 42 | Show answer87% of 42 = 36.54 |
| 87% of 75 | Show answer87% of 75 = 65.25 |
How this answer was calculated
The result is worked out from the numbers in this page's address when the page is opened, using exact arithmetic wherever possible and rounding only for display. Nothing is copied from a printed table. If you think an answer is wrong, please tell us through the contact page and we will check it.
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Questions
What is 85 Percent of 20?
85% of 20 is 17. Formula, steps and practice examples.
What is 85% off 20?
3. Taking 85% off leaves 15% of 20.
What is 20 plus 85%?
37. Adding 85% is the same as multiplying by 1.85.
What is 85% of 20 as a fraction?
85/100 × 20 = 1700/100, which simplifies to 17/1.
How do I find 85% of a number on a calculator?
Multiply the number by 0.85. For 20 that is 20 × 0.85 = 17. On many calculators you can also type 20 × 85 %.