How to Find a Declining Pecentage

Investors may measure gains and losses as a percentage.

A declining percentage represents the amount of a loss in relation to the amount you started with. For example, you might measure your stock market investment losses as a percentage. You use percentages instead of raw numbers because it gives a better context for the significance of the loss. For example, if you lost $300 on a $1 million investment, the loss would be fairly insignificant. However, if you only invested $1,000, a $300 loss would be a much bigger deal.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

Instructions

1. Subtract the ending amount from the starting amount. For example, if you want to figure your percent decline of your stocks and you bought it at $30 and it dropped to $27, subtract $27 from $30 to get $3.

2. Divide the decline by the original amount. In this example, since the price of the stock dropped by $3, divide $3 by $30 to get 0.1.

3. Multiply the result by 100 to find the declining percentage. Completing the example, multiply 0.1 by 100 to find the decrease from $30 to $27 equals a 10 percent decline.

References

• Math is Fun: Percentage Difference
• Macon State: Calculating Percentage Change