Equation for Percent Increase

April 24, 2025 2 min read

Understanding the equation for percent increase is crucial in various real-life scenarios, from calculating salary raises to analyzing business growth. It allows you to quantify the relative change between two values, providing a clear picture of how much something has grown.

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The Percent Increase Formula

The formula to calculate percent increase is as follows:

Percentage Increase = [(Final Value - Starting Value) / |Starting Value|] × 100

Let's break down this equation for percent increase:

  • Final Value: The new or ending value.
  • Starting Value: The original or beginning value.

How to Calculate Percent Increase

  1. Subtract the starting value from the final value. This gives you the amount of the increase.
  2. Divide the amount of increase by the absolute value of the starting value. This gives you the increase as a decimal.
  3. Multiply the decimal by 100. This converts the decimal to a percentage.

If the resulting percentage is negative, it indicates a percentage decrease rather than an increase. If you need to calculate a decrease, visit our percentage decrease calculator page.

Example of Calculating Percentage Increase

Let's say a company's revenue increased from $100,000 last year to $120,000 this year. What is the percentage increase?

  1. $120,000 (Final Value) - $100,000 (Starting Value) = $20,000 (Increase)
  2. $20,000 / $100,000 = 0.2
  3. 0.2 × 100 = 20%

Therefore, the company's revenue increased by 20%.

Using Percentage Increase in Different Scenarios

  • Finance: Tracking investment growth, calculating interest earned (see also: 1 percent interest rate calculator).
  • Retail: Analyzing sales increases, determining price changes.
  • Health: Monitoring weight gain or muscle growth (see also: body weight percentage calculator).
  • Marketing: Measuring the increase in website traffic or lead generation.

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Why spend time manually calculating the equation for percent increase? Our percentage calculator can instantly solve these problems for you. Whether you need to find the percentage increase, decrease, or difference, our tool is designed for speed and accuracy.

Our percentage calculator also handles various other percentage calculations, such as figuring out percentage of a number, or work out percentage of two numbers. Just enter your values and let our calculator do the work.