Percentage Calculator
Calculate percentages easily. What is X% of Y? What percentage is X of Y? Percentage increase/decrease between two numbers.
How to Calculate Percentages
A percentage represents a number as a fraction of 100. The basic formula is: Percentage = (Part / Whole) × 100.
Common percentage calculations include:
- X% of Y: Multiply Y by X/100. Example: 25% of 200 = 200 × 0.25 = 50
- What percent is X of Y: Divide X by Y, then multiply by 100. Example: 50 is what % of 200? → (50/200) × 100 = 25%
- Percentage increase/decrease: ((New - Old) / Old) × 100
Common Uses of Percentages
Percentages are used everywhere in daily life:
- Shopping: Calculating discounts (30% off a $50 item = $15 savings)
- Finance: Interest rates, tax calculations, investment returns
- School: Test scores and grades
- Cooking: Scaling recipes up or down
- Statistics: Expressing proportions and changes in data
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate X percent of Y?
Multiply Y by X divided by 100. For example, 15% of 80 = 80 × (15/100) = 80 × 0.15 = 12.
How do I find the percentage increase between two numbers?
Use the formula: ((New Value - Old Value) / Old Value) × 100. For example, from 80 to 100: ((100-80)/80) × 100 = 25% increase.
What is the difference between percentage and percentile?
A percentage is a proportion out of 100. A percentile indicates the value below which a given percentage of observations fall. For example, scoring in the 90th percentile means you scored better than 90% of test-takers.