Percent Change Calculator
Calculate percent change between two values. Find percentage increase or decrease with step-by-step solutions, chain multiple changes, and use reverse calculations.
Percent Change = ((New - Original) / |Original|) x 100%Percent Change Result
Percent Change
+25.00%
Calculate Percent Change
The starting or initial value
The ending or final value
Step-by-Step Solution
Step 1: Identify the values
Original Value (V1) = 100
New Value (V2) = 125
Step 2: Calculate the absolute change
Change = V2 - V1 = 125 - 100 = 25
Step 3: Divide by the absolute value of the original
25 / |100| = 0.250000
Step 4: Multiply by 100 to get percentage
0.250000 x 100 = 25.00%
Percent Change = +25.00% (Increase)
Quick Reference Table
| Original | New | % Change | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 150 | +50% | 1.50x |
| 100 | 200 | +100% | 2.00x |
| 100 | 50 | -50% | 0.50x |
| 100 | 75 | -25% | 0.75x |
| 100 | 100 | 0% | 1.00x |
Percent Change Result
Percent Change
+25.00%
?How Do You Calculate Percent Change?
Percent change measures how much a value has increased or decreased relative to the original value. Formula: ((New Value - Original Value) / |Original Value|) x 100%. For example, if a price increases from $50 to $65: ((65 - 50) / 50) x 100% = 30% increase. A negative result indicates a decrease.
What is Percent Change?
Percent change (or percentage change) calculates how much a quantity has increased or decreased relative to its original value, expressed as a percentage. It is widely used in finance for price changes, in business for growth rates, and in science for measuring experimental changes. Unlike percent difference, percent change is directional and relative to a specific starting point.
Key Facts About Percent Change
- Formula: ((New - Original) / |Original|) x 100%
- Positive result = increase, negative result = decrease
- Original value cannot be zero (division by zero)
- Used for price changes, growth rates, and performance metrics
- Percent change is directional (from old to new)
- Different from percent difference (which uses average)
- Compound changes multiply, not add
- A 50% increase followed by 50% decrease results in 25% net decrease
Quick Answer
Percent change measures how much a value has increased or decreased relative to the original value. Formula: ((New Value - Original Value) / |Original Value|) x 100%. For example, if a price increases from $50 to $65: ((65 - 50) / 50) x 100% = 30% increase. A negative result indicates a decrease.
Frequently Asked Questions
Percent change measures how much a value has increased or decreased relative to its original value, expressed as a percentage. The formula is: ((New Value - Original Value) / |Original Value|) x 100%. A positive result indicates an increase, while a negative result indicates a decrease.
Percent change is directional - it measures change FROM an original value TO a new value. Percent difference compares two values without a reference point, using the average of both values as the denominator. Use percent change when you have a clear "before" and "after"; use percent difference when comparing two measurements.
Because percent changes compound multiplicatively, not additively. A 50% increase means multiplying by 1.5. A 50% decrease means multiplying by 0.5. So: 1.0 x 1.5 x 0.5 = 0.75, which is 25% less than the original. The decrease applies to the larger intermediate value.
No, if the original value is zero, the percent change is undefined (division by zero). If starting from zero, you cannot express the change as a percentage. However, you can still calculate the absolute change.
Yes! If a value more than doubles, the percent change exceeds 100%. For example, if a stock price goes from $10 to $25, the percent change is ((25-10)/10) x 100% = 150% increase. Similarly, decreases are limited to -100% (complete loss).
Last updated: 2025-01-15
Percent Change Result
Percent Change
+25.00%