Formulas cheatsheet

Percentage formulas cheatsheet.

Every percentage formula you might need, in one printable reference. Plus conversion tables for fractions, decimals, and the special percentages worth memorizing.

Quick reference table

Want to findFormulaExample
P% of XX × P ÷ 10015% of 80 = 12
What % is Y of XY ÷ X × 10012/80 = 15%
Y is P% of whatY × 100 ÷ P12 = 15% of 80
X increased by P%X × (1 + P ÷ 100)80 + 15% = 92
X decreased by P%X × (1 − P ÷ 100)80 − 15% = 68
% change from A to B(B − A) ÷ A × 10080 → 100 = +25%
% difference between A, B|A − B| ÷ ((A+B)/2) × 10040 vs 60 → 40%
P% discount on XX × (1 − P ÷ 100)$80 at 25% off = $60
Markup → sell pricecost × (1 + markup ÷ 100)cost $40, +50% = $60
Margin from cost & sell(sell − cost) ÷ sell × 100$40 cost, $60 sell → 33.3%

Conversions

FromToHowExample
PercentDecimalDivide by 10015% → 0.15
PercentFractionP/100, simplify25% → 25/100 = 1/4
DecimalPercentMultiply by 1000.42 → 42%
FractionPercentDivide top by bottom, × 1003/4 → 75%

Special percentages worth memorizing

PercentDecimalFraction
1%0.011/100
5%0.051/20
10%0.11/10
12.5%0.1251/8
20%0.21/5
25%0.251/4
33.3%0.333…1/3
50%0.51/2
66.7%0.667…2/3
75%0.753/4
100%1.01/1
200%2.02/1

The traps

  • Percentage points vs percent change — a poll going from 40% to 44% is a 4 percentage-point increase, but a 10% relative increase.
  • Stacked discounts don’t add — 20% off followed by 10% off is 28% total, not 30%.
  • Markup and margin differ — a 50% markup yields a 33.3% margin (and vice versa).
  • Percent change is asymmetric — going up 50% and then down 50% leaves you at 75%, not 100%.
Quick answers

Common questions.

They divide that same profit by different bases: markup divides by cost, margin divides by sell price. The sell price is always larger than the cost (when profitable), so margin is always lower than markup for the same dollar profit.

10%. It's a one-step calculation (move the decimal) and it's the building block for many others (5% is half, 20% is double, 15% is 10%+5%, etc.).

Divide the numerator by the denominator and multiply by 100. For 5/8: 5 ÷ 8 = 0.625; × 100 = 62.5%. With practice, you'll memorize common ones: 1/8 = 12.5%, 1/4 = 25%, 3/8 = 37.5%.

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