Percentage of a Number in Excel (Formula)

When working with Excel spreadsheets, situations often arise when it is necessary to calculate the percentage of a number from a number. To carry out the calculation procedures in this program, there are a number of tools. However, all of them are tied to one formula, from which it is important to build on in further work.

Formula for calculating

Before you start trying to subtract a percentage of a number from a number, you need to familiarize yourself with the formula by which the calculation will be carried out: =”number”/”total amount”*100.

Important! Before you start using the formula in calculations, on the main toolbar, find the “Number” tab, make a change to “Percentage”.

A practical example

The procedure for calculating a number from a number in Excel is quite simple. Several steps need to be taken:

1. Select any cell with LMB.
2. Enter formula. Be sure to start with the “=” sign.
3. Press the “Enter” button.

After that, the desired result should appear in the cell.

How to subtract percentages in a completed table

Often there are situations when data is already entered in the table, and you need to calculate percentages from certain numerical values. In order to do this manually, it will take a lot of time, there is a high chance of making a mistake or changing any other indicators in the table itself. There is another more automated and accurate way, which consists of several steps:

1. To get a percentage of the numerical values ​​in the cells of one column, you need to left-click a free cell next to the initial cell of this column.
2. Write the symbol “=”.
3. Click on that cell next to the recorded numerical value.
4. Write the symbol “-“.
5. Click on the same cell again so that its coordinates are re-entered into the cell.
6. Complete the formula with the required percentage, write the “%” sign.

As a result, the desired result should be obtained. However, in the process of such a calculation, the percentage will be obtained only for one numerical value from the table. To automate it for other cells, you need to perform a few more additional steps:

1. Select the cell with the finished result by clicking LMB.
2. Move the cursor to the edge of the cell so that a black cross appears in the lower right corner.
3. Hold down the cross with the left mouse button, drag the cursor down to the required number of cells.

After that, the results of the given calculations should appear in the adjacent column.

How to subtract percentages in a table with fixed %

Another possible situation is that the table already contains a separate column in which a fixed percentage is set for further calculations for the selected cells. To get the desired results, you need to perform a few more steps:

1. Mark with the left mouse button a separate cell next to the numerical value from which you want to get the result.
2. Write the sign “=”, click LMB on the cell with the initial value.
3. After the first coordinates of the cell, put the symbol “-“, click again on the cell with a numerical value to repeat the coordinates.
4. Write the sign “*”, click LMB on the cell with the set percentage.
5. The last step is to press the “Enter” button to get the desired result. After that, you can automatically calculate the result for each cell below.

However, we must not forget that all further calculations in automatic mode will be tied to the cell with a fixed percentage that was specified in the original formula.

General Tips

When working with percentages, various difficulties can arise if the user does not have much experience using certain Excel tools. In order not to encounter difficulties, it is recommended that you read the general advice from professionals in this area:

1. The table has the ability to customize the display of negative percentage values. To do this, use the “Conditional Formatting” editing window. To go to this section, you need to go to the “Home” tab, on the main toolbar, move to the “Styles” group. In the editing window, click on the “Format only cells that contain” option. After that, there will be three fields to fill in. In the first one you need to select “Cell Value”, in the second “less”, in the third write “0”.
2. Highlight negative percentage values ​​(for more convenience, they can be highlighted in different colors). To do this, you need to create a custom number format. The procedure is to go to the “Cell Format” tab, go to the “Number” item, go to the “All formats” category. Next, in the free field, you need to register a custom format. Its main feature is the addition of highlight color to the word in square brackets.

3. One of the additional, useful features is resetting the number format for certain cells. To do this, you need to go to the “Number formats” list, select the “General” option.

Those cells to which the “General” parameter will be applied will not be tied to a special numerical parameter.

Conclusion

Calculation procedures related to percentages are very common when working with Excel spreadsheets. In order to avoid mistakes and perform such actions as soon as possible, it is necessary to use the built-in features of the program, combining them with each other.