Counting Activity with Percents
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The following sentences contain exactly 100 letters.  Ask students to read the sentences and complete the table below.  This activity should help students reinforce the concept that percent means "per hundred". 

"I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.  So I have been given a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for."
(Lou Gerig's farewell to baseball at Yankee stadium)

 

Letter Number of times  Fraction  of 100 Percent
A      
B      
C      
D      
.      
.      
.      

Questions:

1.  How many times does the letter B appear?  What percent of the total number of letters is this?

2.  Which letter appears most often?  What percent of the total number of letters is this?

3.  Which four letters account for 40% of the total?

4.  What is the sum of the percents for all the letters?

5.  What percent of the letters are vowels?

6.  What percent of the letters match with the letters in your first name?

7.  Which combination of letters gives exactly 50% of the total?