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 in finance, economics, statistics, and general data analysis to compare growth rates.

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 new and old values, divides by the old value to get relative change, then converts to percentage by multiplying by 100.

3. Importance of Percentage Increase Calculation

Details: Percentage increase is crucial for understanding growth rates in business metrics (sales, profits), investment returns, population changes, price changes, and performance improvements.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter both new and old values as positive numbers. The old value cannot be zero (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 increase (when new value is less than old value).

Q2: How is percentage increase different from absolute increase?
A: Absolute increase is simply new minus old value, while percentage increase shows the change relative to the original value.

Q3: Can percentage increase be more than 100%?
A: Yes, when the new value is more than double the old value, the percentage increase exceeds 100%.

Q4: Why is percentage increase useful in comparisons?
A: It allows comparison of growth rates between different-sized quantities by normalizing to the original value.

Q5: How do I interpret a 0% increase?
A: This means the new value is exactly the same as the old value - no change occurred.