Percent Increase & Decrease Examples

Last week, gasoline was $3.29/gallon. This week, it's $3.59/gallon. What is the percent increase?

It's increased by $0.30, so we divide the price difference by the original price.

Now multiply by 100 to turn that decimal into a percent. Rounding is totally fine.

The price of a dozen eggs was $2.29, but is now $2.09. What is the percent decrease?

The price decreased by $0.20, so divide that by the original price.

Last year only 50 people attended the annual holiday choir concert. This year it was mandatory that everyone bring two guests, so there were 160 attendees. What is the percent increase?

The concert attendance went up by a whopping 110 people, so we divide that by the original number of attendees.

Then we turn that into a percentage.

Whoa. Attendance rose by 220%.