# Percentage, PPO, and other math musings...



## jules92207 (Apr 17, 2014)

Ok, I'm just going to put it out there. I'm math challenged.

I am pretty sure I get the whole ratio to pound of oil used but the percentage thing is really boggling my mind.

For example - I want to make Exotic Coconut from WSP. The usage rate is 3.6% for my soaping. Now how do I calculate that into my recipe to figure out the max I can use?

Forgive me if this is covered already somewhere, I did some pretty extensive searches all day today with no luck so any advice would be helpful.


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## judymoody (Apr 17, 2014)

You multiply your soaping oils' weight by .036 and that's your amount of fragrance.


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## jules92207 (Apr 17, 2014)

OMG is it seriously that easy? Thank you so much.


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## la-rene (Apr 17, 2014)

judymoody said:


> You multiply your soaping oils' weight by .036 and that's your amount of fragrance.



Unless you are Brambleberry and calculate by final soap weight. It gets so confusing sometimes!


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## jules92207 (Apr 18, 2014)

Totally! I am all over brambleberry fragrance calc if I am going to use theirs but otherwise I have been a bit lost. 

Again I am so thankful for all of you!


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## DeeAnna (Apr 21, 2014)

Translating the meaning of the word "percent" -- 

"per" means "divided by" 
and 
"cent" means "100". 

Remember a "century" is 100 years? And there are 100 cents in a dollar? And 100 degrees in the "centigrade" (celcius) temperature scale?

A number expressed as a percentage is that number per 100. To do math with a percentage, you have to convert it from a percentage into a decimal number, as Judy showed.

3.6% = 3.6 percent = 3.6 divided by 100 = 3.6 / 100 = 0.036

Numbers as percentages are easier to say, that's all. Think of saying "three point six percent" versus "zero point zero three six".


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## jules92207 (Apr 21, 2014)

DeeAnna said:


> Translating the meaning of the word "percent" --
> 
> "per" means "divided by"
> and
> ...



I love how linear you describe things, DeeAnna. That really helped me visualize the process. Thank you!


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## cmzaha (Apr 21, 2014)

la-rene said:


> Unless you are Brambleberry and calculate by final soap weight. It gets so confusing sometimes!


 
It is actually the weight of your oils figured in the B&B calculator. Fragrance percentage is always figured on the weight of oils used. If using 1 oz ppo it is just comes out to be 6.25% of fragrance. Hopefully my math is correct tonight


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## Jenn2980 (Apr 25, 2014)

cmzaha said:


> It is actually the weight of your oils figured in the B&B calculator. Fragrance percentage is always figured on the weight of oils used. If using 1 oz ppo it is just comes out to be 6.25% of fragrance. Hopefully my math is correct tonight



See, this has confused me about BB. They say that they calculate FO usage rates based on _total_ weight of soap, including lye solution volume, and with their calculator they mean for you to put in the total soap weight. How they can figure it that way though, I don't get. If you just put your weight of oils in the calculator, it won't give you the maximum FO load. I wish they would just list the % rate with their FO descriptions and make my life less complicated LOL. I usually just figure the 5% ppo is the max, but BB's calculator will give you an amount that comes out higher than that with some FOs. :-? (unless my Math challenged brain is making a mistake there lol)


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