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 in prices, salaries, investments, and other measurable quantities.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the percentage increase formula:

Where:

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

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

3. Practical Applications

Details: Percentage increase is widely used in finance (investment returns), economics (price changes), business (sales growth), and personal finance (salary increases).

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter both old and new values as positive numbers. The old value must be greater than zero to avoid division by zero.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What if my result is negative?
A: A negative result indicates a percentage decrease rather than an increase.

Q2: How is this different from percentage points?
A: Percentage increase measures change relative to the original value, while percentage points measure absolute difference between percentages.

Q3: What's the maximum percentage increase possible?
A: There's no theoretical maximum - a value going from 1 to 100 would be a 9,900% increase.

Q4: How do I calculate percentage decrease?
A: The same formula works - you'll just get a negative result indicating decrease.

Q5: Why is the old value in the denominator?
A: This makes the increase relative to the starting point, allowing meaningful comparisons between different scales.