How to Calculate percentage of number in Excel

Calculating the percentage of a number in Microsoft Excel is a fundamental skill that opens up a vast array of analytical possibilities. Understanding percentages is crucial for financial analysis, data reporting, performance tracking, and more, as it allows you to easily compare figures and understand them in the context of a whole.

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Benefits

Knowing how to calculate percentages in Excel can help you:

• Improve Data Analysis: Quickly assess changes, growth, and differences between quantities.
• Enhance Reporting: Create more impactful reports with percentage-based metrics that are easy for audiences to understand.
• Simplify Comparisons: Compare data across different scales or categories more effectively.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Input Your Data

Start by entering your data into Excel. For this example, let’s say you have a list of monthly sales figures and you want to calculate the percentage of each month's sales out of the total sales for the year.

• A1: "Month"
• B1: "Sales"
• A2:A13: January to December
• B2:B13: Sales figures for each month.

Step 2: Calculate Total Sales

• In cell B14, calculate the total sales for the year with the formula =SUM(B2:B13).

Step 3: Calculate the Percentage of Total for Each Month

• In cell C2, enter the formula to calculate the percentage of the total for January’s sales: =B2/B$14.
• Format the cell to display percentages: Right-click on C2, choose "Format Cells," select "Percentage," and set the decimal places to your preference.
• Drag the formula in C2 down to C13 to apply it to all months.

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Example

You are analyzing monthly revenue figures for a company to identify growth patterns over a fiscal year. The dataset includes monthly revenues from January to December. You aim to calculate the month-over-month percentage change in revenue to highlight trends, growth spurts, or potential issues.

Step-by-Step Solution

Step 1: Prepare Your Dataset

• Column A: Label "Month," list January through December in cells A2 through A13.
• Column B: Label "Revenue," input monthly revenue figures in cells B2 through B13.
• Column C: Label "MoM Change (%)", which will be used to calculate the month-over-month percentage change in revenue.

Step 2: Calculate Month-over-Month Percentage Change

To calculate the month-over-month (MoM) percentage change in revenue, you'll use the formula:

=((Current Month - Previous Month) / Previous Month) * 100

• In cell C3 (as there is no previous month for January), input the formula to calculate the percentage change from January to February:

=((B3-B2)/B2)

• Format cell C3 as a percentage with your desired number of decimal places.
• Drag the formula down from C3 to C13 to calculate the MoM percentage change for each subsequent month.

Step 3: Advanced Analysis

With your MoM percentage changes calculated, you can now:

• Highlight significant growth or declines by applying conditional formatting to column C. For example, set rules to highlight percentage changes greater than 5% in green and those less than -5% in red.
• Calculate the average monthly percentage change to assess overall performance.

Step 4: Visualize the Data

• Insert a line chart to visualize the MoM percentage change over the year, making trends and outliers easily identifiable. Select your MoM change data (C2:C13), go to the Insert tab, and choose a line chart.

Example with Actual Data

Let’s consider the following monthly revenue figures (in thousands of dollars) for cells B2 through B13:

• January: 100
• February: 105
• March: 110
• April: 120
• May: 115
• June: 130
• July: 125
• August: 135
• September: 140
• October: 145
• November: 150
• December: 160

Following the steps above, the formula in cell C3 would be =((B3-B2)/B2), which calculates to 5%, indicating a 5% increase in revenue from January to February. Replicating this formula down the column provides the MoM percentage change for each month.

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