the total to 100. This makes it easier to compare different situations than when the totals differ. Emperor Augustus, for example, introduced a 1% tax on sales of consumer goods, known as the centesima rerum venalium. Yet percentages did not become widespread until the end of the Middle Ages, with the growth of trade. It is no coincidence that this period also saw the spread of Arabic numerals in the West. While 100 was chosen because of the base-ten numeral system, positional notation makes the data easier to grasp at a glance.
A name and a symbol
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In French, the term "pour cent" is perfectly explicit. This is not true of other languages, such as English, with percent, or German, with Prozent, although 100 is respectively hundred and hundert. The term in fact emerged in Italian, where the expression per cento appeared as early as the 14th century. At the time, however, it was often encountered in its Latin form, per centum. The notation p first appeared in a manuscript dated 1425.
, with p standing for per and the two small circles denoting cento. Since then, the p. has disappeared and the fraction bar has become a slash.
