Percentage Decrease Calculator
Apply a percentage decrease to a number, or find the fall between two values — an original price and a sale price, for instance.
Last updated
Value after a 25% decrease
1,500
Down 500 from 2,000
Working
- Starting value
- 2,000
- Decrease amount
- 500
- Calculation
- 2,000 × 1 − 25÷100
- Result
- 1,500
If this were rupees
- Starting amount
- ₹2,000
- After the change
- ₹1,500
- Difference
- ₹500
How this calculator works
A percentage decrease multiplies a value by one minus the rate. Reducing 2,000 by 25% means multiplying by 0.75.
Finding the decrease between two values divides the fall by the original value. A fall from 2,000 to 1,500 is 500 ÷ 2,000, or 25%.
Successive decreases compound too, which is why stacked discounts never add up to the sum of their parts. Fifty percent off followed by twenty percent off is sixty percent off in total, not seventy.
The asymmetry with increases matters most for investments: a 50% fall requires a 100% rise to get back, because the recovery starts from a smaller base.
The formula
Applying a decrease
new value = value × (1 − percentage ÷ 100)
Finding the decrease between two values
decrease % = ((original − new) ÷ original) × 100
The denominator is always the original value, never the new one.
Worked example: a 25% price cut on ₹2,000
An item priced at ₹2,000 is reduced by 25%.
| Original price | ₹2,000 |
|---|---|
| Decrease (25% of 2,000) | ₹500 |
| New price | ₹1,500 |
| Multiplier used | 0.75 |
| A further 20% off ₹1,500 | ₹1,200 |
| Total discount from the original | 40%, not 45% |
Stacked discounts of 25% and 20% give a total of 40% off, not 45%. The second discount applies to the already-reduced price.
Things worth knowing
- Percentage decreases compound when stacked. Two successive discounts never add up to their sum.
- A 50% fall needs a 100% rise to recover. The bigger the fall, the more disproportionate the recovery required.
- Watch out for discounts advertised on an inflated "maximum retail price" that nobody was ever charged.
- A decrease of more than 100% is not possible for a positive value — it would take the result below zero.