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, inflation, performance improvements, and other changes over time.

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 starting value

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

3. Practical Applications

Details: Percentage increase is used in finance (investment returns, price changes), business (sales growth), demography (population growth), and scientific research (experimental results).

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter both old and new values as positive numbers. The old value must be greater than zero (division by zero is undefined). Results show the percentage change with positive values indicating increase and negative values indicating decrease.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What's the difference between percentage increase and absolute increase?
A: Absolute increase is simply (New - Old), while percentage increase shows the change relative to the original value.

Q2: How do I interpret a negative result?
A: A negative percentage indicates a decrease rather than an increase between the values.

Q3: What if my old value was zero?
A: The calculation is undefined (division by zero). Consider using absolute difference instead.

Q4: How is this different from percentage points?
A: Percentage points measure absolute difference between percentages, while percentage increase measures relative change.

Q5: Can I use this for percentage decrease?
A: Yes, the same formula works - a decrease will simply show as a negative percentage.