percent of increase and decrease

The amount of increase or decrease in a value is the Percent of Increase or Decrease.

Example: The computer was regularly priced at $1500. If you order the computer over the internet, you can save money as the price is only $1200. What percent discount are you getting?

The regular price, which we will refer to as the "old" price is $1500. The sales price, which we can call the "new" price is $1200.

The change in price or discount is $1500-$1200 = $300.

If we divide the discount by the "old" price, we arrive at the percent change…
$300÷$1500 = .2 = 20% decrease

Slaphappy's Furniture Store is selling all their chairs at 7% below cost. Mark down the following prices and submit them to the manager, Ms. Wam.

current price of chair reduced price

$46 $

$78 $

Round all answers to the nearest penny.

In the first example, the "old" was more than the "new" and there was a decrease, so we called the change a discount.

In the next problem, there is an increase in price and we call this a markup in price.

Example: In 1992, the democratic support in a local community was about 47,000. In 1996, the support rose to 56,000. What was the percent increase?

Old = 47000

New = 56000

Change or Markup =

56000- 47000 = 9000

Percent increase =

9000 ÷ 47000 =

.1915 = 19.15%

Using Formulas to Solve Percent Problems

writer:Kevin Gallagher

Percent