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Correct term for percentage in decimal form

By Andrew Adams
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I have 35% of something, but when I calculate how much that is I multiply the total by 0.35

Is there a unambiguous word for the decimal form of a percent? "Decimal" is too broad because it can refer to any number with a fractional component. "Fraction" suggests the format 35/100.

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5 Answers

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I am partial to what Omnomnomnom mentioned in a comment: it is a proportion, and the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary supports this terminology (snippet produced below):

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5 years later...
While proportion is a good choice, it is not correct. Percentage in its decimal form is a proportion but a proportion is not necessarily a decimal formated percentage. It can be 0.25, 25%, 25/100 or 1/4 or whatever else that describes a proportion. Same goes with other similar words, such as index or ratio. Unfortunately, I could not find a single word that explicitly means "percentage in its decimal form", so one has to choose one of those and move on, or use a descriptive/compound name.

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I don't know that there is a single word to express what you want to say. It's a "percentage as a decimal" or as Thanasis Mattis said "percentage in its decimal form". You could go with "Decimal Percentage" but that's not officially defined as an actual word. You could also use"Decimal Fraction" which represents a fraction as a decimal but not necessarily a percentage (See definition below).

As mentioned by Thanasis Mattas a percentage is a portion but a portion isn't a percentage. Thus, I wouldn't use "proportion".

"Decimal Fraction" as defined by Meriam Webster : a fraction (such as .25 = ²⁵/₁₀₀ or .025 = ²⁵/₁₀₀₀) or mixed number (such as 3.025 = 3²⁵/₁₀₀₀) in which the denominator is a power of 10 usually expressed by use of the decimal point

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If we look at the decimal $0.35$ and want a word to describe "$0.35$ of a number", we should notice that it would be convenient to describe it as a ratio, say $\frac{35}{100}$. That is, we have $35$ parts of a hundred. We can rephrase this as $35$ parts per hundred, and then use some Latin and get fancy to call this $35$ parts per centum. This is a bit too wordy, so I would propose that we shorten this even further to "$35$ per-cent".

Tldr: The word "percent" itself was invented to describe (almost) exactly what you want.

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Since a formal definition for that does not exist, I propose the locution percent decimal.

Example

hitRate is the percentage expressed as percent decimal.

Warning
Even if this answer will receive thousands of downvotes, I will use this locution every time I can, until the World will prove me right. If this locution will be universally adopted, and you happened to have downvoted this answer, you are obliged to tattooing one of your forearms with the exact locution (in Courier New font).

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