soft question: explaining proportions/percentages in simple terms I know this is a fairly easy question but I haven't been able to word it into Google so as it would give me a substantive list of resources.
Here's my question:
If a process is 25% efficient,  I'd multiply (1/0.25) by the output, which would yield what is necessary for a 100% efficient output. 
Is there a way to verbalize what this division is actually doing? (i.e. what are the units of 1 and 0.25)

In general, a given percentage has the same units as the whole. If a car is 25% as efficient as a second car, the units are miles per gallon. If a tree is 25% as tall as a second tree, then the units are feet (or meters or whatever unit of length you want).
In other words, your percent calculation (or any percent calculation) is a scalar and therefore has no units.
