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The Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing
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Usage Glossary: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y

percent/per cent/percentage

Use the symbol % to express percent in scientific and technical writing, except when writing numbers at the beginning of a sentence. When you write out the word, use the form percent instead of the older form per cent.


Only 3% of the systems crashed during the test period.

Three percent of the systems crashed during the test period.


In nontechnical writing, use the word percent rather than the symbol %.


The population has increased 1.42 percent during the past ten years.

The word percentage refers to a general result or portion.


The percentage of system failures was below the limit set for the prototype.

Reference Link Text
## percent/per cent/percentage ##
Reference Link Text

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