Home
Back
Percentage Change Formula:
| From: | To: |
Percentage change measures the degree of change over time. It expresses the difference between an old value and a new value as a percentage of the old value. This calculation is widely used in finance, economics, statistics, and many other fields to compare changes in values over time.
The calculator uses the percentage change formula:
Where:
Explanation: The formula calculates the difference between the new and old values, divides this by the old value to get a relative change, then multiplies by 100 to convert to a percentage.
Details: Percentage change is crucial for understanding growth rates, price changes, performance improvements, and many other metrics. It provides a standardized way to compare changes across different scales and magnitudes.
Tips: Enter the old (original) value and the new (current) value. The calculator will automatically determine if the change is an increase or decrease and display the percentage change. Note that the old value cannot be zero.
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 mathematically undefined. If the old value was zero, any new value would represent an infinite percentage change.
Q3: How is percentage change different from percentage difference?
A: Percentage change compares a new value to an old value, while percentage difference compares any two values without considering which is the reference.
Q4: What's the difference between percentage points and percent change?
A: Percentage points refer to absolute differences (e.g., 5% to 7% is a 2 percentage point increase), while percent change is relative (e.g., 5% to 7% is a 40% increase).
Q5: How do I interpret a percentage change from 0% to a positive value?
A: This calculation isn't possible as it would involve division by zero. In such cases, it's better to describe the change in absolute terms.