1. What is Percent Change?

Percent change is a mathematical concept that measures the relative change between an old value and a new value, expressed as a percentage. It's commonly used in finance, economics, statistics, and various scientific fields to track changes over time.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the percent change formula:

Where:

• \( New \) — The new or current value
• \( Old \) — The original or previous value

Explanation: The formula calculates the difference between new and old values, divides by the old value to get the relative change, then multiplies by 100 to convert to a percentage.

3. Importance of Percent Change Calculation

Details: Percent change is crucial for analyzing growth rates, price changes, performance metrics, and trends across various domains including business, economics, science, and everyday life.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter the original value and the new value. The old value cannot be zero as division by zero is undefined. Results are rounded to two decimal places.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What does a negative percent change indicate?
A: A negative percent change indicates a decrease from the old value to the new value.

Q2: What does a positive percent change indicate?
A: A positive percent change indicates an increase from the old value to the new value.

Q3: Why can't the old value be zero?
A: Division by zero is mathematically undefined, so the old value must be non-zero to calculate percent change.

Q4: How is percent change different from percentage points?
A: Percent change measures relative change from an original value, while percentage points measure absolute difference between two percentages.

Q5: Where is percent change commonly used?
A: Percent change is widely used in finance (stock prices), economics (inflation rates), business (sales growth), and scientific research (experimental results).