1. What is Percentage Change?

Percentage change measures how much a value has increased or decreased relative to its original value. It's commonly used to analyze growth or decay in financial, scientific, and statistical data.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the percentage change formula:

Where:

• \( Final \) — The new or current value
• \( Initial \) — The original or starting value

Explanation: The formula calculates the relative difference between two values as a percentage of the original value.

3. Importance of Percentage Change

Details: Percentage change is crucial for understanding trends, comparing growth rates across different scales, and making data-driven decisions in business, economics, and science.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter the initial and final values. The calculator will show the percentage increase (positive result) or decrease (negative result). Initial value cannot be zero.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What does a negative percentage mean?
A: A negative percentage indicates a decrease or decay from the initial value to the final value.

Q2: How is this different from percentage difference?
A: Percentage change compares a value to its original, while percentage difference compares two distinct values relative to their average.

Q3: What if my initial value is zero?
A: The calculation is undefined when initial value is zero, as division by zero is mathematically impossible.

Q4: Can I use this for multiple time periods?
A: For compound growth over multiple periods, you would need to calculate each period's change separately or use a compound growth formula.

Q5: How accurate is this calculation?
A: The calculation is mathematically precise, but the accuracy depends on the precision of your input values.