1. What is Percentage Change?

Percentage change measures the degree of change over time. It's used to compare an old value to a new value, expressing the difference as a percentage of the old value. Positive values indicate an increase, while negative values indicate a decrease.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the percentage change formula:

Where:

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

Explanation: The formula calculates the relative change between two values by comparing the difference to the original value.

3. Importance of Percentage Change

Details: Percentage change is widely used in finance, economics, statistics, and many other fields to track growth rates, price changes, performance improvements, and more. It provides a standardized way to compare changes across different scales.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter both old and new values. The calculator will automatically determine if it's an increase or decrease and display the percentage change. Note that the old value cannot be zero (division by zero is undefined).

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What's the difference between percentage change and percentage difference?
A: Percentage change compares a new value to an old value, while percentage difference compares two values without considering which is older.

Q2: How do I interpret negative percentage change?
A: A negative percentage change indicates a decrease from the old value to the new value.

Q3: Why can't the old value be zero?
A: Division by zero is mathematically undefined. When the old value is zero, percentage change cannot be calculated.

Q4: How is percentage change different from absolute change?
A: Absolute change is simply the numerical difference (new - old), while percentage change shows the relative size of that difference compared to the old value.

Q5: Can percentage change be more than 100%?
A: Yes, when the new value is more than double the old value, the percentage change will exceed 100%.