Why is it important to calculate percent increases?

Calculating percent decreases is important in various aspects of life, such as:

• Business: to analyze sales trends, revenue changes, and cost reductions
• Finance: to evaluate investment returns, interest rates, and loan payments
• Personal finance: to track expenses, savings, and budgeting
• Science and research: to measure changes in data, experiments, and studies

Percentage decrease formula

To calculate the percentage decrease, you can use the following formula:

Percentage Decrease = ((Original Value - New Value) / Original Value) × 100

This formula calculates the difference between the original and new values, divides it by the original value, and then multiplies by 100 to get the percentage decrease.

Example problems: Percentage increase

Example 1: Price increase calculation

A men's watch used to cost $300, now it has a sale price of $250. How much did the price decrease?

Percentage Decrease = ((Original Value - New Value) / Original Value) × 100

Original price =300

New price = 250

Percentage Decrease = ((300 - 250) / 300) × 100 = (50 / 300) × 100 = 0.1667 × 100 = 16.67%

The product price decreased by 16.67%.

Example 2: Project price decrease

You were interested to make some renovations in your kitchen. The quote was originally $6000, yet because it was not a hard job as initially estimated, it costed $300 less. How much did the cost decrease?

Percentage Decrease = ((Original Value - New Value) / Original Value) × 100

Original price = $6000

New price = 5700

Percentage Decrease = ((6000 - 5700) / 6000) × 100 = (300 / 6000) × 100 = 0.05 × 100 = 5%

The project price decreased by 5%.

How to decrease a number by a percentage?

There are times when you would like to calculate the decrease of a number, cost, or distance by a specific percentage. In such situations, to decrease the number by a percentage, use this formula:

New Value = Original Value - (Original Value × Percentage(%) Decrease)

Alternative,

New Value = Original Value × (1 - Percentage Decrease)

Example problem: Decrease by percent

Example 1: Salary decrease by percent

A worker had a salary of $60,500. Because the company is not having it's best time, it decided to decrease the salary by 20%. What will be the new annual pay for the employee?

Let's start with the formula mentioned above

New Value = Original Value × (1 - Percentage Decrease)

New salary = Original salary × (1 - 0.20) =

60,500 × 0.80 = 48,400

Alternatively, you can calculate the decrease amount: Decrease amount = Original salary ×

Percentage decrease = 60,500 × 0.20 = 12,100

New salary = Original salary - Decrease amount = 60,500 - 12,100 = $48,400

The salary decreased by 20%, resulting in a new salary of $48,400.

Example 2: Hiking trip time decrease

A hike to a cabin used to take 3 hours and 30 minutes last summer. Recently, rangers established a new path to arrive to the cabin that makes the hike 30% faster. What is the new time to reach the cabin?

New Value = Original Value × (1 - Percentage Decrease)

Original time = 3 hours 30 minutes = 3.5 hours in decimal hours

Percentage decrease = 30%

New time = Original time × (1 - 0.30) = 3.5 hours × 0.70 = 2.45 hours

Alternatively, you can calculate the decrease amount:

Decrease amount = Original time × Percentage decrease =

3.5 hours × 0.30 = 1.05 hours

New time = Original time - Decrease amount = 3.5 hours - 1.05 hours = 2.45 hours

The hiking trip time decreased by 30%, resulting in a new time of 2 hours and 27 minutes.

Related calculators:

• Percentage calculator – for most types of percentage calculator needs.
• Percentage increase calculator if you want to compute the increase between two numbers or a percent increase.
• How do I calculate percentage increase in Excel? if you want to make this calculation in Excel or Google Sheets.
• Percent change calculator.