How do you work out the percent difference between two numbers?

Answer 1

Call the numbers a & b, a being the larger.

(a - b) x 100/a will give the difference as a percentage of a.

EG: What is the percentage difference between 36 and 20?

a = 36, b = 20; then (36 - 20) x 100/36 ie 1600/36 = 44.4recurring%

To find the difference as a percentage of the lower number just swop a & b and ignore minuses.

as above but a = 20 & b = 36: (20 - 36) x 100/20 = 16 x 100/20 = 1600/20 = 80%