Welcome to our article about calculating percentages in Excel! No matter what your job is, chances are you have to work with numbers from time to time. From budgets to sales data, percentages play an important role in many aspects of business and personal finance. In this article, we will introduce you to some basic and easy-to-use formulas for calculating percentages in Excel.
Calculating Percentage Increase and Decrease in Excel
One of the most common uses of percentages in Excel is to calculate the difference between two values. For example, if you have sales data from two years and want to know the percentage increase or decrease, you can use the following formula:
(new value – old value) / old value * 100
Let’s say in 2019, your sales were $100,000 and in 2020, your sales were $120,000. To calculate the percentage increase in sales from 2019 to 2020 using this formula, you would insert the following into a cell in Excel:
= (120000 – 100000) / 100000 * 100
The result would be 20%, which means your sales increased by 20% from 2019 to 2020.
Similarly, if you want to calculate the percentage decrease in sales, you would use the same formula, but with the old and new values switched:
(old value – new value) / old value * 100
Using the same example above, if your sales in 2020 were $80,000 instead of $120,000, you would use the following formula to calculate the percentage decrease in sales:
= (100000 – 80000) / 100000 * 100
The result would be 20%, which means your sales decreased by 20% from 2019 to 2020.
Calculating Percentage of Total in Excel
Another common use of percentages in Excel is to calculate the percentage of a total. For example, let’s say you have a budget for various expenses and want to know what percentage each expense is of the total budget. You can use the following formula:
part / whole * 100
Imagine your total budget is $10,000 and you spent $1,500 on rent, $2,000 on groceries, $1,500 on utilities, and $5,000 on travel. You can use the following formula to calculate the percentage of each expense:
= (1500 / 10000) * 100
for rent
= (2000 / 10000) * 100
for groceries
= (1500 / 10000) * 100
for utilities
= (5000 / 10000) * 100
for travel
The results would be 15%, 20%, 15%, and 50%, respectively, which means rent accounts for 15% of your total budget, groceries account for 20%, utilities account for 15%, and travel accounts for 50%.
Frequently Asked Questions about Calculating Percentages in Excel
1. Can I use cell references in formulas for calculating percentages in Excel?
Yes! Instead of manually entering the old and new values, or the part and whole values, in your formulas, you can refer to the cells where these values are stored. For example, if the old and new sales values are stored in cells A1 and B1, respectively, you can use the following formula to calculate the percentage increase:
= (B1 – A1) / A1 * 100
This will produce the same result as the formula we used earlier, but with the added benefit of being able to update the values in cells A1 and B1 without needing to manually adjust the formula itself.
2. How can I format percentage values in Excel?
Excel automatically formats percentage values as percentages, so you don’t need to add a percentage sign (%) to your formulas. However, if you want to change the number of decimal places displayed, you can use the Format Cells feature.
To format a percentage value in Excel:
- Select the cell or range of cells that contains the percentage value you want to format.
- Right-click on the selected cell(s) and choose Format Cells from the context menu.
- In the Format Cells dialog box, select the Number tab.
- In the Category list, choose Percentage.
- Use the options in the dialog box to specify the number of decimal places you want to display, if desired.
- Click OK to apply the formatting.
Conclusion
We hope this article has helped you understand some of the basic formulas for calculating percentages in Excel. Whether you’re tracking sales data or working with a budget, knowing how to calculate percentages is an essential skill for anyone who works with numbers on a regular basis. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.
