1. What is Percentage Change?

Percentage change measures the relative difference between an old value and a new value, expressed as a percentage. It shows how much a quantity has increased or decreased compared to its original value.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the percentage change formula:

Where:

• New Value — The updated or current value
• Old Value — The original or previous value

Explanation: The formula calculates the relative difference between two values and expresses it as a percentage of the original value.

3. Importance of Percentage Change Calculation

Details: Percentage change is widely used in finance, economics, statistics, and business to measure growth rates, price changes, performance improvements, and other comparative analyses.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter both old and new values. The old value cannot be zero as division by zero is undefined. Positive results indicate increase, negative results indicate decrease.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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: How is percentage change different from percentage difference?
A: Percentage change compares two values over time (before and after), while percentage difference compares two different values at the same time.

Q3: Can percentage change be more than 100%?
A: Yes, if the new value is more than double the old value, the percentage change will exceed 100%.

Q4: What if the old value is zero?
A: Percentage change cannot be calculated when the old value is zero because it would involve division by zero, which is undefined.

Q5: How is percentage change used in real-world applications?
A: It's used to calculate stock price changes, inflation rates, sales growth, population changes, and many other metrics where relative comparison is important.