Kicker: A quick math trick

NICK EICHER, HOST: Math geeks— and the rest of us— can rejoice that a math tweet has gone viral.

Instead of the usual ugliness of viral tweets, this one is actually helpful! It’s a simple way to work out percentages in your head.

Have you ever tried doing quick math on figuring a tip? Let’s say you’ve got a check for $50 and you want to leave an 18 percent tip. Instead of multiplying $1.80 by five, just flip the numbers. Don’t think 18 percent of 50. Think 50 percent of 18. Instantly you know it’s $9.

Ben Stephens is a copywriter in England who tweeted out the simple formula. Even math majors are leaving comments that they never knew this trick.  Like the math teacher who said, “50% blown away / 50% going DUH!”

Another, with a degree in Applied Mathematics said she’d never known that trick.

And now, you do. See, there’s news you can use.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Twitter, Fermat’s Library)

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