1. What is Percentage Change?

Percentage change measures the relative difference between an old value and a new value, expressed as a percentage. It shows how much a quantity has increased or decreased compared to its original value.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the percentage change formula:

Where:

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

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

3. Importance of Percentage Change

Details: Percentage change is widely used in finance, economics, science, and everyday life to compare changes over time, track growth rates, and analyze trends.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter both old and new values. The calculator will show the percentage change and indicate whether it's an increase or decrease. Old value cannot be zero.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What does a negative percentage change mean?
A: A negative percentage change indicates a decrease from the old value to the new value.

Q2: Why can't the old value be zero?
A: Division by zero is undefined in mathematics. The percentage change formula requires a non-zero old value.

Q3: How is percentage change different from percentage difference?
A: Percentage change compares a new value to an old value (temporal comparison), while percentage difference compares two simultaneous values.

Q4: What's the difference between percentage points and percent change?
A: Percentage points measure absolute difference (e.g., 5% to 7% is a 2 percentage point increase), while percent change measures relative difference (40% increase in this case).

Q5: How do I interpret a percentage change from 0% to X%?
A: When starting from zero, any positive value represents an infinite percentage increase, which is why we avoid calculating percentage change from zero.