Editing Percentage (section)

== Word and symbol ==
{{main|Percent sign}}

In [[Commonwealth English|most forms of English]], ''percent'' is usually written as two words (''per cent''), although ''percentage'' and ''[[percentile]]'' are written as one word.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/percent1.html|first=Paul|last=Brians|title=Percent/per cent|work=Common Errors in English Usage|publisher=Washington State University|access-date=22 November 2010}}</ref> In [[American English]], ''percent'' is the most common variant<ref>{{cite book|title=New Zealand English Grammar, Fact Or Fiction?: A Corpus-based Study in Morphosyntactic Variation|volume=23|series=Varieties of English around the world: General series|first=Marianne|last=Hundt|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|year=1998|isbn=9789027248817|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6U3ysrgV4_8C&pg=PA19|quote=A new regional difference between BrE and AmE in this area has evolved during the last thirty years. While in 1961, it was still fairly common for American journalists to write either per cent or (less commonly) percent, the latter spelling variant now seems to be the only possible one.}}</ref> (but ''[[per mille]]'' is written as two words).

In the early 20th century, there was a dotted abbreviation form "''per cent.''", as opposed to "''per cent''". The form "''per cent.''" is still in use in the highly formal language found in certain documents like commercial loan agreements (particularly those subject to, or inspired by, common law), as well as in the ''[[Hansard]]'' transcripts of British Parliamentary proceedings. The term has been attributed to [[Latin]] ''per centum''.<ref>{{OED|Percent}}</ref> The [[percent sign|symbol for percent]] (%) evolved from a symbol abbreviating the Italian ''per cento''. In some other languages, the form ''procent'' or ''prosent'' is used instead. Some languages use both a word derived from ''percent'' and an expression in that language meaning the same thing, e.g. Romanian ''procent'' and ''la sută'' (thus, ''10%'' can be read or sometimes written ''ten for [each] hundred'', similarly with the English ''one out of ten''). Other abbreviations are rarer, but sometimes seen.

Grammar and style guides often differ as to how percentages are to be written. For instance, it is commonly suggested that the word percent (or per cent) be spelled out in all texts, as in "1&nbsp;percent" and not "1%". Other guides prefer the word to be written out in humanistic texts, but the symbol to be used in scientific texts. Most guides agree that they always be written with a numeral, as in "5&nbsp;percent" and not "five percent", the only exception being at the beginning of a sentence: "Ten percent of all writers love style guides." Decimals are also to be used instead of fractions, as in "3.5 percent of the gain" and not "{{frac|3|1|2}} percent of the gain". However the titles of bonds issued by governments and other issuers use the fractional form, e.g. "{{frac|3|1|2}}% Unsecured Loan Stock 2032 Series 2". (When interest rates are very low, the number 0 is included if the interest rate is less than 1%, e.g. "{{frac|0|3|4}}% Treasury Stock", not "{{frac|3|4}}% Treasury Stock".) It is also widely accepted to use the percent symbol (%) in tabular and graphic material.

In line with common English practice, style guides—such as ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]''—generally state that the number and percent sign are written without any space in between.<ref>
{{cite web
 | title = The Chicago Manual of Style
 | publisher = [[University of Chicago Press]]
 | year = 2003
 | url = http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/
 | access-date = 5 January 2007}}
</ref>
However, the [[International System of Units]] and the [[ISO 31-0]] standard require a space.<ref>
{{cite web
 | title = The International System of Units
 | publisher = [[International Bureau of Weights and Measures]]
 | year = 2006
 | url = http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8.pdf
 | access-date = 6 August 2007}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web
 | title = ISO 31-0 — Quantities and units – Part 0: General principles
 | publisher = [[International Organization for Standardization]]
 | date = 22 December 1999
 | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=3621
 | access-date = 5 January 2007}}
</ref>