How do you calculate percentage increase?

Subtract the original value from the new value, divide by the original value, then multiply by 100. For example, if a price rises from $50 to $65: (65 − 50) ÷ 50 × 100 = 30%.

How do you calculate percentage decrease?

Subtract the new value from the original value, divide by the original value, then multiply by 100. For example, if a price drops from $80 to $60: (80 − 60) ÷ 80 × 100 = 25%.

How do you calculate the percentage of a number?

Convert the percentage to a decimal by dividing by 100, then multiply by the number. For example, to find 15% of 200: 15 ÷ 100 = 0.15, then 0.15 × 200 = 30.

What is the formula for percentage error?

Percent error = [|Measured value − Actual value| ÷ Actual value] × 100. It is always expressed as a positive number.

What is the difference between percent change and percent difference?

Percent change compares a before-and-after value and divides by the original value. Percent difference compares two independent values and divides by their average instead.

How do you calculate percentage on a calculator?

Enter the two numbers you want to compare, then divide the smaller relevant value by the base value and multiply by 100.

Can a percentage increase be more than 100%?

Yes. A percentage increase over 100% means the new value is more than double the original value. For example, 10 to 25 is a 150% increase.

Can percent error be negative?

Percent error is typically reported as a positive number because the formula uses absolute value. Some fields report a signed percent error instead.

Percentage Calculator

Written by the StepSolvers Team │ Reviewed by a Math Educator │ Last updated July 2026

The percentage calculator finds percent increase, percent decrease, what percentage one number is of another, and percent error — showing every step of the working. Enter your numbers below and get a complete step-by-step solution instantly.

This free percentage calculator covers four modes: percent increase, percent decrease, percent of a value ("what is X% of Y?"), and percent error — the calculation scientists use to check measurement accuracy. No signup required.

What do you want to calculate?

Old Value

New Value

Step-by-Step Solution

Final Answer:

What Is a Percentage?

A percentage is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100. The word "percent" literally means "per hundred." Percentages are used to compare values, describe change over time, and express a part of a whole. Investopedia's guide to percentage calculations in finance covers the business and investing side of these formulas in more depth.

The Four Modes of This Calculator

Mode	What it answers
Percent increase	How much a value went up, expressed as a percentage of the original value.
Percent decrease	How much a value went down, expressed as a percentage of the original value.
Percent of a value	Answers "what is X% of Y?" — for example, what is 15% of 200?
Percent error	How far a measured or estimated value is from the true or accepted value, as a percentage.

Percentage Formulas Explained

Percent Increase and Percent Decrease

Both formulas compare the change between two values to the original value. The only difference is whether the new value went up or down.

Percent increase = [(New value − Original value) ÷ Original value] × 100 Percent decrease = [(Original value − New value) ÷ Original value] × 100 Both formulas always divide by the original value — never the new value.

Percent of a Value ("What Is X% of Y?")

This mode answers a different question entirely: not how much something changed, but what a given percentage of a number equals. Converting a percentage to a decimal is the same operation as writing it as a fraction over 100 — the Fraction Calculator can show that conversion step by step if you'd rather work with fractions.

Result = (Percentage ÷ 100) × Value

Percent Error

Percent error compares a measured or experimental value against the true or accepted value, and is always expressed as a positive number using absolute value.

Percent error = [ |Measured value − Actual value| ÷ Actual value ] × 100

How to Use This Percentage Calculator

Select your mode: Percent Increase, Percent Decrease, Percent Of, or Percent Error.
Enter the original value and the new value (for increase/decrease), or the percentage and the value (for Percent Of), or the measured and actual values (for Percent Error).
Click Calculate. The result appears instantly with full step-by-step working.
Use the Percent Change vs Percent Difference tab if you're comparing two independent values rather than a before-and-after change.
Click Reset to clear all inputs and start a new calculation.

The calculator accepts positive numbers, negative numbers, and decimals.

Worked Examples — Step by Step

Example 1: Percent Increase

A shirt's price rises from $50 to $65. Find the percent increase.

Write the known values: original value = 50, new value = 65
Find the change: 65 − 50 = 15
Divide by the original value: 15 ÷ 50 = 0.3
Multiply by 100 to get a percentage: 0.3 × 100 = 30%

Percent increase = 30%

Example 2: Percent Decrease

A product's price drops from $80 to $60. Find the percent decrease.

Write the known values: original value = 80, new value = 60
Find the change: 80 − 60 = 20
Divide by the original value: 20 ÷ 80 = 0.25
Multiply by 100 to get a percentage: 0.25 × 100 = 25%

Percent decrease = 25%

Example 3: What Is 15% of 200?

Find 15% of 200 — a different question from increase or decrease.

Write the known values: percentage = 15%, value = 200
Convert the percentage to a decimal: 15 ÷ 100 = 0.15
Multiply by the value: 0.15 × 200 = 30

15% of 200 = 30

Example 4: Percent Difference Between Two Independent Values

Compare 40 and 60 as two independent measurements — not a before-and-after change — using percent difference.

Write the two values: 40 and 60
Find the absolute difference: |40 − 60| = 20
Find the average of the two values: (40 + 60) ÷ 2 = 50
Divide the difference by the average: 20 ÷ 50 = 0.4
Multiply by 100: 0.4 × 100 = 40%

Percent difference = 40%

Example 5: Percent Error

A student measures the boiling point of water as 99.2°C. The accepted value is 100°C. Find the percent error.

Write the known values: measured value = 99.2, actual value = 100
Find the absolute difference: |99.2 − 100| = 0.8
Divide by the actual value: 0.8 ÷ 100 = 0.008
Multiply by 100 to get a percentage: 0.008 × 100 = 0.8%

Percent error = 0.8%

Example 6: Successive Percentage Changes — Why They Don't Cancel Out

A $100 item increases in price by 20%, then later decreases by 20%. Does it return to $100?

Start with the original price: $100
Apply the 20% increase: $100 × 1.20 = $120
Apply the 20% decrease to the NEW price, not the original: $120 × 0.80 = $96
Compare to the original: $96 ≠ $100 — the item is now cheaper than it started

Final price = $96, not $100 — a net 4% decrease

Why this happens: the 20% decrease is calculated on the new, higher value ($120), not the original ($100). Since 20% of $120 is more than 20% of $100, the decrease removes more than the increase added. This is why successive percentage changes never simply cancel out unless the second change is calculated to specifically reverse the first.

When to Use a Percentage Calculator

Percentage calculations come up constantly in school, work, and everyday shopping:

Shopping and discounts: finding how much a sale price has decreased, or what a percentage discount actually costs.
School and grades: converting a fraction of correct answers into a percentage score.
Business and finance: tracking percent increase or decrease in revenue, costs, or profit from one period to the next — if you're comparing changes across several periods, the Average Calculator can help summarize the trend.
Science labs: calculating percent error to check how accurate an experimental measurement is compared to the accepted value.
General comparisons: finding what percentage one number represents of another, like a tip, tax, or portion of a total.

Percent Change vs Percent Difference — What's the Real Difference?

These two terms are often used interchangeably, but they answer different questions and use different formulas.

Term	When to use it
Percent change (increase/decrease)	Used when you have a clear before-and-after: an original value and a new value. Always divides by the original value.
Percent difference	Used when comparing two independent values with no clear "before" or "after" — like comparing two competing measurements. Divides by the average of the two values instead.

Using percent change when you actually have two independent values (or vice versa) gives a different, less meaningful number. Choose percent difference only when neither value is clearly the starting point.

Common Mistakes When Calculating Percentages

Dividing by the new value instead of the original value: percent increase and decrease always divide by the original value — this is the single most common error in percentage problems.
Assuming successive percentage changes cancel out: as shown in Example 6, a 20% increase followed by a 20% decrease does not return to the original value, because the second percentage is calculated on a different base amount.
Confusing percent change with percent of total: "sales grew by 40%" and "sales are 40% of total revenue" are two completely different calculations that happen to share the number 40%.
Mixing up percent change and percent difference: using the wrong denominator (original value vs. average of two values) produces a different, often misleading result.
Confusing percentage points with percent: going from 40% to 50% is a 10 percentage-point increase, but it's a 25% relative increase (10 ÷ 40 × 100) — these two numbers are often mixed up in news and reporting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you calculate percentage increase?: Subtract the original value from the new value, divide by the original value, then multiply by 100. For example, if a price rises from $50 to $65: (65 − 50) ÷ 50 × 100 = 30%. Always divide by the original value, not the new one.
How do you calculate percentage decrease?: Subtract the new value from the original value, divide by the original value, then multiply by 100. For example, if a price drops from $80 to $60: (80 − 60) ÷ 80 × 100 = 25%.
How do you calculate the percentage of a number?: Convert the percentage to a decimal by dividing by 100, then multiply by the number. For example, to find 15% of 200: 15 ÷ 100 = 0.15, then 0.15 × 200 = 30.
What is the formula for percentage error?: Percent error = [|Measured value − Actual value| ÷ Actual value] × 100. It is always expressed as a positive number. For example, if a measured value is 99.2 and the actual value is 100: |99.2 − 100| ÷ 100 × 100 = 0.8%.
What is the difference between percent change and percent difference?: Percent change compares a before-and-after value and divides by the original value. Percent difference compares two independent values with no clear starting point, and divides by the average of the two values instead. Use percent change only when you have a true original and new value.
How do you calculate percentage on a calculator?: Enter the two numbers you want to compare, then divide the smaller relevant value by the base value and multiply by 100. Most calculators also have a % key that automates this — for example, typing 200 × 15% directly returns 30, since the % key divides by 100 first.
Can a percentage increase be more than 100%?: Yes. A percentage increase over 100% simply means the new value is more than double the original value. For example, if a value goes from 10 to 25, that's a 150% increase, since (25 − 10) ÷ 10 × 100 = 150%.
Can percent error be negative?: Percent error is typically reported as a positive number because the formula uses absolute value. Some fields report a signed percent error instead, where a negative result shows the measured value was below the actual value and a positive result shows it was above — check which convention your class or field uses.