Charles Nikunu Yunupingu and Richard Trudgen

The English word percentage is used in so many different places. Many Yolngu know the symbol and hear the word used in general conversation, like “100% look alike” or “you have a 20% chance of winning this game”, or “you only have 25% kidney function left”, and of course in conversations about GST and business. A lot of Yolngu know the word and the symbol, can even use it in a conversation, but actually have no idea what it really means. Perhaps it’s a measurement like centimetres or inches – or what is it?

These 3 programs work through the meaning of the symbol as “part of 100”. To move from where many Yolngu are in their confusion around the term percentage to a new understand the programs talk about percentage being more like a rubber band rather than a ruler or tape with a set length. Many different examples are given in the conversation. The method of education used here is to continue a dialogue between the two world views represented by the two producers. Over the 3 programs each producer reflects on the conversations, trying to understand where the other is at in their understanding. The overall structure of the programs are driven by the questions of the Yolngu co-producer in “giving skeletal structure” to the term percentage.

There are 3 stories in this podcast. Please see time stamps below-

• What does percentage mean?    0:00
• Does Percentage have many different meanings?    13:41
• Many different examples of percentage.     27:42