We need to calculate percentages in academics, sells or purchase, finding discount, calculating taxes/Vat, shares etc. Sometimes it is required to find the percentage increase or decrease of any value. Percentage calculation formula is also used to calculate percentile or finding rank in a school. Therefore understanding percentage calculation basic helps in every walks of life. There are various ways to calculate percentages depending upon the applications. You can also use a percentage calculator for ready-made solution to your problem.
Percentage Definition
In simple term Percentage is ( ‘per=every’, ‘cent=100’) a number expressed as fraction of 100. It is generally expressed by symbol ’%’. For example 20% means 20 part out of 100. It used to compare two different data set. For example, in a class of 60 students, 25 are girls where as in another class of 50 students, 22 are girls, the first class has more numbers of girls (25>22) where as the second class has more percentage of girls student (41.67% < 44%) . Generally three basic types of percentage calculation is used every where. Percentages formula involved in all these types of calculation is described below with example, also an online Percentage calculator is given below for ready-made answer for your percentage calculation.
Type-1 How to calculate percentage of a number 
Suppose 
percentage of a number is 
than
![\[ Z =\frac{Y}{100} .X \]](https://how-to-calculate.com/wp-content/ql-cache/quicklatex.com-0acbd699b994dfdbe9c4a3644ac32889_l3.png "Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com")
For Example, 20% of 40 is (20/100).40=8
Type-2 How to calculate, what percentage of a number is X
Again Suppose percentage of a number is than
![\[ Y= \frac{Z}{X}.100 \]](https://how-to-calculate.com/wp-content/ql-cache/quicklatex.com-31c009954375d8a8f6fd451dd4871ae5_l3.png "Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com")
From above Example, 8 is 20% of 40.
Type-3 How to calculate the percentage increase or decrease from number A to B
![\[{Percentage increase} = \frac{B-A}{A}.100\]](https://how-to-calculate.com/wp-content/ql-cache/quicklatex.com-f06fdd8784aca1ac577adf6eae84f112_l3.png "Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com")
![\[{Percentage decrease} = \frac{A-B}{A}.100\]](https://how-to-calculate.com/wp-content/ql-cache/quicklatex.com-66f9fba66b86545d586401ebc5d82e15_l3.png "Rendered by QuickLaTeX.com")
For example 20 to 30 increase means (30-20).100/20=50% increase
For example 50 to 30 decrease means (50-30).100/50=40% decrease
Methods & Tips To Calculate Percentage in Excel
In Microsoft Excel there is a shortcut for finding percentage of any fraction. For example take the case given in Percentage definition para mentioned above, use the formula in excel as shown below.
Now format the Cell D2 and D3 and apply percentage. For that Either Right click on the Cell (D2/D3) and select percentage as shown below, or use the’%’ percentage shortcut given in latest version of Excel.
The Cell D2 and D3 will automatically give the percentage value as shown below. The below results will show that Class B has less numbers of Girls then Class A, but the percentage of Girls students in Class B is more than that of Class A.
