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I have looked around, for an answer, please pardon me if you find one that I have missed. My question is whether the %(divide x by 100) symbol is an operator or function and if neither, which category it falls into in mathematics terms.

user2405469
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  • I've known some teachers that treated it as a unit of measure. To a degree, I agree with this in the abstract sense of a unit of measure: it indicates that x% is taken to mean the ratio $x:100$. – Hayden Feb 25 '14 at 11:52
  • It's somewhat like a unit of measure, when we write "7m" we really mean 7 times a meter. Same goes for %, except one can expand % into $^{1}/_{100}$ – mniip Feb 25 '14 at 11:57
  • The symbol "%" stands for exactly "divided by 100" and nothing more. It is purely a mathematical shorthand. So 7% is exactly 0.07 and nothing more. $x= (100x)/100=(100x)%. I can't answer your question about "operator" versus "function" until you define the term "operator" in this context. I would say provisionally it is a unary operator, much as the square root symbol is. – MPW Feb 25 '14 at 12:17
  • Thank you for the answers, I'll take it as a unary operator since it fits the description well. – user2405469 Feb 25 '14 at 13:15
  • Note that operators are functions. So the implication that this falls into exactly one of these categories is mistaken. – MPW Feb 25 '14 at 16:21

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Answered by MPW in comments:

The symbol "%" stands for exactly "divided by 100" and nothing more. It is purely a mathematical shorthand. So 7% is exactly 0.07 and nothing more. $x= (100x)/100=(100x)\%$.

Note that operators are functions. So the implication that this falls into exactly one of these categories is mistaken. I would say provisionally $\%$ is a unary operator, much as the square root symbol is.

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