Before taking a typing course, a candidate could type 40 words per minute. By the end of the course, the candidate was able to type 115 words per minute. Find the percent increase.

The percent increase in the speed is $\square \%$. (Type an integer or a decimal)

Step 1 ：Let's denote the initial typing speed as \(initial\_value = 40\) words per minute and the final typing speed as \(final\_value = 115\) words per minute.

Step 2 ：The increase in speed is calculated by subtracting the initial value from the final value, which gives us \(increase = final\_value - initial\_value = 115 - 40 = 75\) words per minute.

Step 3 ：The percent increase is then calculated by dividing the increase by the initial value and multiplying by 100 to convert to a percentage. This gives us \(percent\_increase = \frac{increase}{initial\_value} \times 100 = \frac{75}{40} \times 100 = 187.5\%\).

Step 4 ：Final Answer: The percent increase in the speed is \(\boxed{187.5\%}\).