What is the difference between percent and percentage points?

A rate moving from 4% to 6% has risen by two percentage points and by fifty percent. Both are correct and they describe different things, which is why interest rates and poll results are always quoted in points: saying a rate 'rose 50%' is true and almost always misread.

How do I work out what percentage one number is of another?

Divide the part by the whole and multiply by 100. 37 out of 250 is 37/250 = 0.148, so 14.8%. The order matters: 250 out of 37 is 675.7%, which is a different question with a different answer.

Math & Statisticspercentage

Percentage Calculator

What one number is as a percentage of another, and what that percentage of a number comes to. The plainest arithmetic on the site, done with the working shown.

Also called: percent of a number, find percentage.

Result

360

15% of 2,400 is 360.

The rest of the number

2,040

How this is calculated

Method and background

How this is calculated

A percentage is a fraction with a denominator of one hundred. Multiplying by p/100 scales the value by that fraction; there is nothing more to it, which is why the interesting percentage calculators are the ones that reverse the operation.

result = percent / 100 * value

p: The percentage
V: The value it applies to

Worked examples

Each of these is asserted on every build. If a change to the engine ever moved one of these answers, the build would fail before the page could print it.

15% of 2400

What percent: 15
Of this number: 2,400

Result360

arithmetic identity

Open this example

0% of anything is nothing

What percent: 0
Of this number: 2,400

Result0

degenerate case

Open this example

over 100% exceeds the base

What percent: 150
Of this number: 200

Result300

boundary: percentages above 100 are ordinary

Open this example

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between percent and percentage points?: A rate moving from 4% to 6% has risen by two percentage points and by fifty percent. Both are correct and they describe different things, which is why interest rates and poll results are always quoted in points: saying a rate 'rose 50%' is true and almost always misread.
How do I work out what percentage one number is of another?: Divide the part by the whole and multiply by 100. 37 out of 250 is 37/250 = 0.148, so 14.8%. The order matters: 250 out of 37 is 675.7%, which is a different question with a different answer.