Percentage Increase
Percentage Increase - a browser-based calculators utility.
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About Percentage Increase
Two different questions get called "percentage increase": applying a percentage to a number, and measuring the rise between two numbers. This does both, and shows the arithmetic, which matters when the answer is going into an invoice or a report someone will check. Free online, and asks for nothing back. The arithmetic is done inside this tab and goes no further.
How to use it
- Apply a percentageEnter the starting value and the percentage to add — 200 plus 15% gives 230.
- Or measure a riseEnter the old and new values and get the percentage change between them — 50 to 75 is a 50% increase.
- Or work backwardsGiven the result and the percentage, recover the original figure. This is the calculation people get wrong most often, because you divide rather than subtract.
Why you cannot subtract to reverse an increase
If a price rose by 20% to 120, the original was not 120 minus 20% — that is 96. It was 120 ÷ 1.20, which is 100. The percentage applies to the starting figure, and after the rise the starting figure is no longer the number you are holding. The same trap makes a 50% fall need a 100% rise to get back to where it began.
What it does not do
- A percentage increase from zero is undefined, not infinite: there is no proportion of nothing. The calculator says so rather than returning a misleading figure.
- Percentages of percentages do not add. Two consecutive 10% rises are a 21% rise overall, not 20%.
Questions people ask
- How do I reverse a percentage increase?
- Divide by one plus the percentage as a decimal. To remove a 15% rise from 230: 230 ÷ 1.15 = 200. Subtracting 15% from 230 gives 195.50, which is a different and wrong answer.
- What is the difference between percentage increase and percentage points?
- Going from 10% to 15% is a rise of five percentage points, and a 50% increase. Both are correct and they describe different things, which is why the distinction is worth keeping.
Questions about ToolsVerse itself — privacy, cost, what happens to your files — are answered in the frequently asked questions.
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