How to Apply a Percentage Increase or Decrease in Excel

1. Open Excel and create a new spreadsheet or open an existing one.
2. In one cell, enter the original value that you want to increase or decrease by a percentage. For example, enter the original price of an item in cell A1.
3. In another cell, enter the percentage value by which you want to increase or decrease the original value. Make sure to include the percentage sign (%) after the number. For example, enter the percentage discount rate in cell B1.
4. To apply the percentage increase or decrease, create a new cell where you want the result to appear. In this example, we will use cell C1.
5. In the new cell (C1), enter the following formula for percentage increase:=A1 * (1 + B1)Or enter the following formula for percentage decrease:=A1 * (1 - B1)
6. Press Enter to apply the formula. The new value with the applied percentage increase or decrease will appear in the new cell.

Example

Let's say you have an item with an original price of $100 (in cell A1) and you want to apply a 20% discount (in cell B1). Here's how you would do it:

1. Enter the original price in cell A1: 100
2. Enter the discount percentage in cell B1: 20%
3. In cell C1, enter the formula for percentage decrease: =A1 * (1 - B1)
4. Press Enter.

After applying the formula, cell C1 will display the new price after the 20% discount, which is $80.