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How to calculate percentage change or difference between two numbers in Excel?

This article is talking about calculating percentage change or difference between two numbers in Excel.

Calculate percentage change/difference between two numbers with formula

As below screenshot shown, you need to calculate the percentage change between new number 94 and old number 80. The formula =(new_value-old_value)/old_value can help you quickly calculate the percentage change between two numbers. Please do as follows.

1. Select a blank cell for locating the calculated percentage change, then enter formula =(A3-A2)/A2 into the Formula Bar, and then press the Enter key. See screenshot:

2. Keep selecting the result cell, then click the Percent Style button in the Number group under Home tab to format the cell as percentage. See screenshot:

Now the percentage difference between two given numbers is calculated.

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Comments (24)
Rated 5 out of 5 · 1 ratings
Dev
Dev
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A fair answer to the problem but what about negative numbers or cases where one on the numbers is zero - what would the formula look like in these cases?
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Nixon
Nixon     Dev
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Maybe = (A3-A2) / ABS(A2)
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Vehbi Kajtazi
Vehbi Kajtazi     Nixon
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=ABS(A3-A2)/A2
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guestuser
guestuser     Dev
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re: "cases where one on the numbers is zero "

=IFERROR((A3-A2)/A2,0)
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Danny
Danny
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Very easy formula to calculate % diff - thanks!
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Qamarul
Qamarul
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how to calculate price and date and convert into percentage depending on the date stated?
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Cory
Cory
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if one number is zero and formula returns an error. =iferror((cell1-cell2)/cell2,0)
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crystal
crystal     Cory
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Dear Cory,
If you want to display the result as 0 when zero exists in one cell, please apply this formula: =IF(A2<>0,(A3-A2)/A2,"0"). You can change the second 0 to any data as you need to display as result.
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Vincent
Vincent
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Hi. How to count a rate : Rate -6% -15%
Rate -10% -6% - 15%
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J Rev
J Rev
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How can I chnage regular percent change into Year over Year PCH?
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Miguel Garcia
Miguel Garcia
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The formula that works in all cases is "=(new_value - old_value) / abs(old_value)"
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Jeff
Jeff
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Percentage 'change' and percentage 'difference' are two different things. This formula represents percentage change, for example if you are are comparing values of the same statistic over time (e.g. product sales this year compared to product sales last year). Percentage difference is different. Difference can be used when comparing two different statistics to each other (e.g. Mary's annual sales compared to Martha's annual sales). Mary didn't have an increase or decrease on Martha's sales over the same time period, they were just different. To calculate percentage difference you take the absolute value of the difference between two numbers. Then divide it by the average of those two numbers and then multiple by 100 to get the percentage. For example, if the two values are 40 and 60. The difference is 20, ignoring whether it's positive or negative. The average is 50. 20/50 = .4 X 100 = 40%. The percentage increase between these two numbers, if it is an increase, would be 50%. The percentage decrease would be 33%. Close, but all very different.
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GeoG
GeoG     Jeff
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1.The percentage increase between these two numbers, if it is an increase, would be 50%. The percentage decrease would be 33%. Close, but all very different.....  How did you get the 50 and the 33?2. If you say Marias YOY is 8% and Martha's YOY is -25%, how do you calculate the difference between those two YOYs?
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Stephen
Stephen
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Hello, Need help on how to write an formula with this situation.
So i have a report card design to show the grade of each performance of the work output. I set a standard for a specific task in amount of 350. However, based on available volume, not all the month output can be reach to 350. Therefore, we calculated that for this month, the person can achieve their 100% goal by just reaching 174. However, that person can go beyond that number to reach 350. What i want to do here is that our grade level is showing below. If they achieve 174, they would get a grade level B which is between 95% to 105%. But in order to get to maximum 120% of grade A+, the person will need to reach 350. This is where i stuck with. So i know that if a person reaches 180, he/she would get somewhere 102 or 103%. But i dont know how to calculate this and be able to set a maximum 120% between the number of 174 and 350

So right now if the number double from 174 to 348, the % is 200%.... but i need to set this maximum 120% only. How can i do this?

SCORE GRADE

0.00% -

40.00% E-

45.00% E

50.00% E+

55.00% D-

65.00% D

70.00% D+

75.00% C-

80.00% C

85.00% C+

90.00% B-

95.00% B

105.00% B+

110.00% A-

115.00% A

120.00% A+
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Bill
Bill
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When a cell is blank, and another cell Has a number, how do you
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Vikky
Vikky
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Any help for picking up value only it falls between 85% to 99% else blank.
Such as A is 10 and in B if we put any number , and in C it show the value only if it is fals between 85% to 99% of A
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Fazz
Fazz
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I have 0 in A1, 5 in B1, increase in percentage should be 500%. However with the given formula (B1-A1)/A1 = (0-500)/0 gives me a #DIV/0! error.In case if i apply =IF(A2<>0,(A3-A2)/A2,"0"), it return s me "0". neither of them helps. Any solution to this???
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ok
ok     Fazz
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I hope you're not that dumb, dividing by 0
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Capt'n Obvious
Capt'n Obvious     Fazz
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SMH SMH SMH SMH SMH
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Stanley
Stanley     Fazz
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In case anyone still needs an answer for this problem, use this =IF(A1<>0, (B1-A1)/A1, (B1-A1))
using the percent style format will make (B1-A1) in this case (5-0) = 5 become 500%.
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RC
RC     Stanley
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Hey Stanley,

Thanks for the formula!
Would you mind explaining the formula, please?
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Edi Silva
Edi Silva
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it is possible to calculate three values with the percentage change?
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Rated 5 out of 5
crystal
crystal     Edi Silva
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Hi Edi Silva,
You can try this formula: =(first value-second value)/(third value-second value)
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meaniequeen
meaniequeen
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doesnt work
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