What term is used to express either a whole or part of a whole in numerical form?

The term that best expresses either a whole or part of a whole in numerical form is percentages. Percentages represent a portion out of a total of one hundred and are commonly used to convey how a part relates to a whole. For example, saying that a student scored 80% on a test indicates that they answered 80 out of every 100 questions correctly, providing a clear understanding of their performance relative to the total possible outcomes.

By using percentages, one can easily compare different quantities, make calculations regarding increases or decreases, and represent data in a way that is easily understandable. This makes percentages particularly useful in health science contexts, where evaluations of outcomes, risks, and other measurements are often expressed in terms of a hundred for clarity and simplicity.

In contrast, while ratios compare two quantities and fractions represent parts of a whole, they do not convey the concept of a part as a proportion of a total base of one hundred. Decimals can also express parts of a whole but do not directly communicate this in relation to a hundred, which is the hallmark of percentage representation.