How to Do Percentages in Excel

Introduction

Here, I present you with a guide on how to make percent calculations using Excel. In today’s lesson, I, as an Excel professional, will explain how to perform easy calculations on percentages in an Excel sheet. Percentages are a helpful tool for anyone, regardless of whether they are a student, a professional, or an everyday user of Excel spreadsheets.

Understanding the Basics of Percentages

First, let us begin with the fundamentals of the topic under discussion. The percentage is simply using numbers to represent a value of about 100 out of hundred. For instance, if it were stated that a candidate obtained 25%, then we understand that the candidate scored 25 points out of 100. As it has been explained in this passage, there are some ways and methods you can use to calculate percentages in Excel, either through formulas or formatting options. This means that the method you use depends on your specific needs, depending on the amount of money and time you have to invest in the process.

Formatting Percentages in Excel

The easiest method for calculating percentages in Excel is to use the format of percentage format. You can easily convert any number to a percentage by clicking the percentage button on the Home tab or by right-clicking and selecting the percentage format. This will split the number by 100 and come up with the result in percentage by appending the % symbol. For instance, the figure 0.25 translates to the percentage 25%. What works for displaying percentages does not let them use those cells in any formulas we might want to apply.

Using Formulas for Percentage Calculations

To work with percentages within calculations, some useful formulas will be necessary for use.

The overall formula is represented by = Part/Total x 100.

For example, to calculate 25 percent of 400, one would use the formula =(100/400) * 100. This displays 25%.

In the same way, you can apply the formula =A1*B1 to multiply a percentage displayed in a cell in the form of a decimal with another cell.

Other useful formulas are =A1/100 to obtain a percentage from a decimal and =A1*B1/100 to arrive at a percentage of a cell.

 

Applications of Percentages in Excel

Now it’s time to talk about some percentage applications like discount calculation, increase calculation, and calculation of the difference between two values in Excel.

To find the percentage discount or markup, simply subtract a certain ratio from one to get the decimal equivalent.

For instance, to express a 25% discount, you can type =A1*(1-B1), where B1 is. 25 represents the actual percentage.

Subtracting this from 1 and placing a percent sign before the result gives the percent increase. Another way is also possible – you can compare two values and use the formula =(A1-B1)/B1 for the percent difference.

Other features in Excel for percentages include using conditional formatting, where certain cells can be colored depending on values above or below some limit. Hypothetically, the percentage can also be represented in pie charts or stacked bar charts. There are handy Excel functions like PERCENTRANK to calculate percentiles and rank items by the percentage band.

Conclusion

As you can observe, Excel is equipped with exceptional tools to work with percentages – the formatting of cells, discounts, markups, and visualization of data. The trick involves identifying how percentage word problems can be written in the form of proper formulas and cell references. Excel percentage formulas and computations are best learned through practice, and hopefully, this guide has offered examples that you can use to hone your Excel knowledge.

Excel is a powerful tool that can quickly solve even the most complex tasks, such as calculating percentages. Now that you know the fundamentals, why not give Excel percentages a shot? Please leave a comment below with any questions that you have about percentages. Well, there you have it, folks, some Excel tips to help you out until next time from your friendly Excel guru!