To find half a percent of a billion, we first need to understand what half a percent means. Half a percent can be expressed as 0.5% or 0.005 in decimal form.
Now, a billion is represented as 1,000,000,000. To find half a percent of this amount, we can use the following calculation:
Calculation:
0.005 (which is half a percent) × 1,000,000,000 = 5,000,000.
So, half a percent of a billion is 5 million.
This means that if you take 0.5% of the total value of one billion, you end up with 5 million. Understanding percentages is crucial because they enable us to compare proportions in a standardized way, and calculating them in relation to large numbers like a billion can be quite useful in various contexts such as finance and statistics.