Percentages in Excel are often used in calculations to work out a percentage increase in sales or to calculate the percentage increase in a bill or service. This can sometimes give a better overview of the increase or decrease rather than just a difference between two numbers. This guide provides guidance on understanding percentages and a link to Microsoft's guide on using Excel to calculate percentages.
Relevant for Excel for Office 365,Excel for Office 365 for Mac, Excel 2019. Excel 2016
You’ll need:
- A computer with Excel installed
- Some data that you would like to perform percentage calculations on this could be the percentage of a total, or the percentage change between two numbers.
Understanding percentages
A percentage is a proportion that shows a number as parts per hundred represented by the symbol '%'. So 25% means 25 out of every 100. Percentages can be confusing so if your not sure how or why to use percentages visit this BBC Bitesized guide:
www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/z9rjxfr/revision/1
Calculating percentages using Excel
Follow this Microsoft guide to using Excel to calculate percentages:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Calculate-percentages-6B5506E9-125A-4ABA-A638-D6B40E603981
Last updated 3rd May 2019