Percent sign

How to type it

Left index finger with Shift.

Common uses

• The percent sign writes a fraction of one hundred, as in 25% for one quarter.
• Stores, banks, and test scores use percentages for discounts, interest rates, and grades.

Less common uses

• In many programming languages, % is the modulo operator, so 7 % 3 gives the remainder 1.
• In web addresses, % starts an encoded character, so %20 stands for a space.
• The word percent comes from the Latin per centum, meaning by the hundred.