How To Figure Percentages On A Frequency Chart

A frequency chart shows how often something occurs. For example, a frequency chart of animals found in a forest would show how many of each animal were found. In order to find percentages in a frequency chart, you need to add together all the frequencies on the chart to find a total. Then, the percentage is just the number of times a specific event occurs divided by all the events.

Step 1

Find the frequency of what you want to find the percentage of. Your frequency chart will display this. For example, assume you want to find the percentage of children in a school who weigh between 150 pounds and 159 pounds. On your frequency chart, it shows 42 people are between these weights.

Step 2

Find the total number in the population. In the example, assume there are 300 people in the school.

Step 3

Divide the frequency by the total population. In the example, 42 divided by 300 equals 0.14, or 14 percent.