Working out percentages

**lurchybold** · 06-29-2010, 11:17 AM

Hi,
I need a formula to help work out percentages, if someone would be kind enough to help please.

if C11 = 579 (this is the figure I need to be within 2% of) and I get results in A11 of 581 (High reading) and B11 of 577(Low reading) How do I get the percentage high of the high reading in D11 and the percentage low of the low reading in E11,

Hope this isn't confusing,

Thanks for your time,

Lurch.

**Bob Phillips** · 06-29-2010, 11:21 AM

Try

D11: =(A11-$C11)/$C11
E11: =($C11-B11)/$C11

**lurchybold** · 06-29-2010, 11:42 AM

Cheers mate, that appears to be working fine, Thank You for you help

Lurch

**lurchybold** · 06-30-2010, 04:01 AM

Hi Bob,

the figures given by this formula at first looked OK however doing the calculations using a calculater I needed to multiply the answers by 100 to achieve the correct results so I have added *100 to the formula so it now reads
D11: =(A11-C11)/C11*100
E11: =(C11-B11)/C11*100
and is giving me the figures I need.

Once again thanks for your help,

Cheers,

Andy.

**Bob Phillips** · 06-30-2010, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by lurchybold

the figures given by this formula at first looked OK however doing the calculations using a calculater I needed to multiply the answers by 100 to achieve the correct results so I have added *100 to the formula so it now reads
D11: =(A11-C11)/C11*100
E11: =(C11-B11)/C11*100
and is giving me the figures I need.

No, you have changed them from percentages to a ratio now. Percentages are always 0-1. Just format the cells as percentage, they will then show correctly.

**lurchybold** · 06-30-2010, 07:02 AM

Originally Posted by Bob Phillips

No, you have changed them from percentages to a ratio now. Percentages are always 0-1. Just format the cells as percentage, they will then show correctly.

Ah yes, the resulting figures are the same but formatting to percentages and ditching the *100 from the formula is tidier,

Cheers mate,

Lurch.

**Bob Phillips** · 06-30-2010, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by lurchybold

Ah yes, the resulting figures are the same but formatting to percentages and ditching the *100 from the formula is tidier,

Again no. They LOOK the same, but they are very different. If you multiply an amount by a VAT percentage of 17.5% and by an amount of 17.5, you get very different answers. What you see in a spreadsheet cell can be VERY different to what the cell actually contains. If you enter todays date ina cell you might see 30-Jun or 30/06/2010, but it actually contains the value 403579. Similalrly with percentages. It is important to understand this when working with spreadsheets.