Percentages are of immense importance in our everyday lives. From a kid’s report card to an adult’s increment, percentages are everywhere. 

In this article, we will learn the basics of percentages, how to calculate percentages in Excel and other topics related to the percent formula in excel. 

What are percentages? 

Before we learn to calculate percentage in excel, let us first understand what percentages are. If we look at the literal translation, it means per hundred or by the hundred.

To calculate the percentage, use the formula

Percentage = (Part/Total)*100

So if you want to calculate what percentage is 10 out of 50, use this formula as shown below:

1. Part = 10
2. Total = 50
3. Percentage =(10/50)*100 = 20%

How to calculate percentages in Excel using the Excel percentage formula? 

Method 1 

Let’s say you have the data as shown in the image below: 

Here’s the first way to calculate it-

1. Put the formula =(B2/50)*100 in the cell C2. 
   
   
   
2. Hit Enter. Cell C2 will give you the percentage of marks for Mark. 
   
   
   
3. You can drag and copy the formula to all rows of column C.
   

Method 2

We’ve discussed one method to calculate percentage in Excel. Let us look at another one. 

Let’s say we have the same data as method 1. Then here’s another way to calculate it: 

1. Select the range C2:C5 where we the percentage value. Under Home tab select Percentage from Number option.
   
   
   
2. Now put the same formula as method 1, but without *100 which means, type =B2/50 in C2 and press enter.
   
   You’ll see the percentage of marks for Mark.
   
   
3. Drag the formula down to fill rest of the cells.
   

Note: Selecting the percentage option automatically multiplies the result by 100 and gives you the final result in percentage. 

How to calculate percent of a number in excel?

If you wish to calculate the percentage of a number in Excel, say 30% of 900, here’s how you can do that:

1. Put the formula =(10/300)*900 in a cell A2 
   
   
   
2. Hit Enter. The cell will give you the value of what is 30% of 900.
   

How to calculate percentage difference in Excel? 

Confused about how to calculate percentage change in Excel? Don’t worry, it’s simple. 

But first, let’s look at what exactly is a percentage difference and why does it matter? 

Suppose you are preparing for a competitive exam and score 78 on your 1st mock preparation test. Let’s say you test yourself again and score an 84 on the test.
Percentage difference helps us to calculate the percentage change (increase) or decline (decrease) in your performance. 

Let us understand with another example. Consider the following data:

Now a general % increase/decrease is calculated by the formula:
Percentage Change = (New data – Old data)/ Old data.

So here’s how to calculate percent increase in Excel, or even decrease for that matter in our sample data: 

1. Select the range C2:C5 where we the percentage value. Under Home tab select Percentage from Number option.
   
   
   
2. Go to cell D2 and type =C2-B2/B2 and hit enter.
   
   You can now see that Mark’s percentage change is negative which means his decreased by 30%.
   
   
3. Drop down the formula to copy-paste it to the following cells and find out the percentage increase and decrease for the rest of the data.
   

How to calculate the percentage of total?

Now that you know how to calculate percentage change in Excel, the Percentage formula in Excel can also be used to calculate percentages of a total in a data set. 

Let us understand how. 

Method 1: When you have the total of each data set

Consider the following data: 

To calculate the percentage of blue balloons in the total data, follow the following steps: 

1. Select the range C2:C5 where we the percentage value. Under Home tab select Percentage from Number option.
   
   
2. Go to cell C2 and type =B2/$B$6 and hit enter.
   
   So now you can see that out of all balloons, 25% balloons are blue.
   
   
3. Now you can drag the formula to copy it to the rest of the cells. This will give you the percentage of all different balloons in total balloons. 
   

Note: The $ sign makes the cell B6 an absolute reference so that when you drag the formula to other cells the total value i.e. cell B6 doesn’t change.

Method 2: When the total of each data set is in different rows

Consider the following data: 

Here, as you may have noticed, there are 2 rows that have the colour “blue”.
Here’s how you can calculate the percentage of blue balloons in such cases where there could be multiple entries: 

1. Go to cell E3 and write “Blue” 
   
   
   
2. Go to cell E4 and type =(SUMIF(A2:A6,E3,B2:B6))/B7
   
   
   
3. Hit Enter. Cell E4 will give you the total percentage of blue balloons from the entire data.
   

Note: We have used the SUMIF function. It helps add up all numbers related to a particular entry. You can also put the name/text of the entry in the formula, like this: =SUMIF(A2:A6, “Blue”, B2:B6)

Conclusion 

So this was all there was to know about how to calculate percentage in Excel.

Hope that we’ve succeeded in helping you understand the basics of Percentage Formula In Excel. Feel free to drop your questions or suggestions for us in the comments. Our team will get back to you soon!