Percentage Increase Formula:
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Percentage increase measures how much a value has grown relative to its previous value, expressed as a percentage. It's commonly used to analyze year-over-year growth in financial, business, and economic contexts.
The calculator uses the percentage increase formula:
Where:
Explanation: The formula calculates the difference between current and previous values, divides by the previous value to get relative change, then converts to a percentage by multiplying by 100.
Details: Percentage increase is fundamental for analyzing growth trends in business metrics (revenue, profit), economic indicators (GDP, inflation), and personal finance (investments, salary growth).
Tips: Enter both current and previous values as positive numbers. The previous value cannot be zero (division by zero is undefined).
Q1: What's the difference between percentage increase and absolute increase?
A: Absolute increase is the simple difference (current - previous), while percentage increase shows the relative change compared to the original value.
Q2: How do I interpret negative percentage increase?
A: A negative result indicates a decrease rather than an increase between the two periods.
Q3: What if my previous value was zero?
A: Percentage change is undefined when starting from zero, as it would require division by zero.
Q4: Can I use this for non-yearly comparisons?
A: Yes, the formula works for any time periods (month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter) as long as the time intervals are consistent.
Q5: How is this different from percentage points?
A: Percentage points measure absolute difference between two percentages, while percentage increase measures relative change from an original value.