What is a Percentage Calculator?
There are a number of tools that can be helpful in not only understanding but checking answers in mathematics. A percentage calculator is one such tool that calculates the percentage of a given number and displays the result.
How is the percentage calculated?
To find the per cent of a number, we write the per cent as a fraction with denominator 100 and then multiply by the number.
Example
Find 15% of 20
Solution
15% of 20
= (15/100) x 20
= 3
The same value can be checked using the online percentage calculator.
How does a percentage calculator work?
The percentage calculator below is an accurate tool that allows calculating as well as checking the percentage of a number. For instance, you want to check whether the answer in the example is correct or not.
How to use the percentage calculator to check this?
Check the box that says – What is ______ % of _______
Now put the value of 15 in the first box and 20 in the second box. This is because we want to obtain the value of 15% of 20.
As soon you enter these two values in the two boxes, check the answer in the blue box.
The blue box shows 3 as the answer which is exactly what we got when we calculated it using the percentage formula.
This explains the working of the calculator and shows how precisely it computes the percentage.
Let us understand it using another example.
Suppose we want to calculate the value of 16% of 284.
As above, place the value of 16 in the first box and 284 in the second box.
You get 45.44 as the answer.
Hence 16% of 284 = 45.44
This example also shows that the calculator does not just give you the answer in while numbers, but it also calculates the values correct to two places of decimal where and when required.
Calculating Change in Percentage using the Percentage Calculator
Suppose you appear in an exam where you get 50% percent marks. However, on a recheck, your marks, there is an increase in the percentage and your new percentage is marked as 75%. What is the change in percentage of your marks from 50% to 75%
How to calculate the percentage change?
The following steps may be followed to calculate the change in percentage:
1. First, find the difference between the two numbers, with the initial value being subtracted from the new value. In this case, the initial value was 50 while the second value was 75. So, we find out the difference in these two values that comes out to be:-
75 – 50 = 25
2. Now, divide this difference by the initial percentage value and multiply the result by 100. In our example, this value is 50.
So, we will divide the difference 25 by 50 and then multiply it by 100. So, we have
(25/50) x 100
= 50
Hence, the percentage change in this case is 50%.
Note: If the difference in the values obtained in step 1 is positive, we say that there is an increase in percentage, known as a percentage increase. If the difference is negative, we say that there is a decrease in percentage, known as percentage decrease.
The percentage calculator can be used to obtain the value of percentage change as well.
Using percentage calculator to find out the change in percentage
To use the percentage calculator in order to find out the percentage change we use the box that says “What is the % change from ______ to ______?
Now, we place the initial percentage value in the first box and the final percentage value in the second box.
If we want to check the above example using the percentage calculator, we would put 50 in the first box and 75 in the second box.
The answer shown in the blue box is our answer, i.e. 50%
Let us understand it by another example.
Suppose, in the first of English, you obtained 80% marks, while in the second test you managed to score only 60%. What would be the percentage change in this case?
Follow the same steps as in the previous example.
1. First, find the difference between the two numbers, with the initial value being subtracted from the new value. In this case, the initial value was 80 while the second value was 65. So, we find out the difference in these two values that comes out to be –
60 – 80 = -20
Note the negative sign in the difference. This indicates that there is a decrease in percentage.
2. Now, divide this difference by the initial percentage value and multiply the result by 100. In our example, this value is 80.
So, we will divide the difference 25 by 50 and then multiply it by 100. So, we have
(-20/80) x 100
= -25%
Hence, the percentage change, in this case, is -25%.
Let us now check the same using the percentage calculator.
If we want to check the above example using the percentage calculator, we would put 80 in the first box and 60 in the second box.
The shown in the blue box is our answer, i.e. -25%
Benefits of using a percentage calculator
A percentage calculator can serve many purposes in your day-to-day calculations.
- It helps you to check your answers when attempting questions related to percentages.
- It allows you to do calculations faster when running out of time.
- It helps you to find the percentage change and determine whether there is an increase or a decrease in percentage.