1. What is Percentage Increase?

Percentage increase measures how much a quantity has grown relative to its original value, expressed as a percentage. It's commonly used to track growth, inflation, performance improvements, and other changes over time.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the percentage increase formula:

Where:

• New Value — The current or final measurement
• Old Value — The original or initial measurement

Explanation: The formula calculates the difference between the new and old values, divides by the original value to get a relative change, then multiplies by 100 to convert to a percentage.

3. Importance of Percentage Increase Calculation

Details: Percentage increase is widely used in finance (investment returns), economics (inflation rates), business (sales growth), science (experimental results), and everyday life (price changes).

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter both new and old values as positive numbers. The old value cannot be zero (as division by zero is undefined). Results are rounded to 2 decimal places.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What does a negative percentage increase mean?
A: A negative result indicates a percentage decrease rather than an increase.

Q2: How is percentage increase different from absolute increase?
A: Absolute increase is simply (New - Old), while percentage increase shows the change relative to the original value.

Q3: Can percentage increase be more than 100%?
A: Yes, this means the value has more than doubled (new value is more than twice the old value).

Q4: Why is the old value in the denominator?
A: This provides context - a $5 increase means more for a $10 item than a $100 item.

Q5: How do I calculate percentage decrease?
A: The same formula works - you'll get a negative result which can be reported as a decrease.