How to Add a Percentage to a Number in Excel

Adding a percentage to a number in Excel can be done by mentioning the rate at which something is increasing or decreasing. There are 3 ways of doing such a task. In this article, I will be giving you a brief description about the ways you can add a percentage to any number in Excel.

📁 Download Excel File

Download the Excel file below.

Learn to Add a Percentage to a Number in Excel with These 3 Approaches

Suppose we have a dataset of the current price of flagship phones of different brands whose prices are going to rise after the upcoming budget plan by 12%. Now, we will be illustrating different approaches to add the percentage to the existing prices of the cellphones to find out what their prices will be after the budget plan. The dataset is shown as follows:

To convert any numerical value in any cell to percentage values, we can use the Percent Style option to show the existing numbers in percentages. In this case, the numbers are multiplied by 100 to show them in percentages. Let us suppose that along with the present price given in the dataset, we are also given how many times the price will be increasing in the near future. This will correspond to the percent increase in the price. We can do this by the following steps:

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

• We select cells D6:D12. We copy the values and paste it in the next column named Price increase in Percentages.

• Now we select the cells E6:E12.
• Then we go to Home and select the Percent Style option indicated by a % sign or press the Ctrl+Shift+% shortcut.

• Therefore, the cell values will be multiplied by 100 and converted into percentage values. The table showing the results will look like the following image:

The Paste Special feature is an important feature where we can modify a lot of cells and a large number of the data ranges. In this case, we will be using this feature to add a percentage to a number in Excel. The steps for this process are as follows:

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

• First, since the price increase is by 12%, we introduce a separate column indicating the new price in percentage with the old whose value will be 112%
• Then, we copy the prices from cell range C6:C12 and paste the cell contents on the cells E6:E12.

• Now we select cells D6:D12 and copy the data.
• After that, we select cells E6:E12, right-click and press Paste Special. A popup box will appear.

• We select the Values option from the Paste category and the Multiply option from the Operation category and then press OK.

• The results will look like that of the following image:

Applying a Formula to a number is the most convenient way to add a percentage to a number. We can do this in a variety of ways by writing the formula in different ways. As our dataset indicates a 12% increase in the prices of the flagship phones, now we will add the percentage increase in the formula and find out the new price of the phones. We follow these steps to find out the result:

⬇️⬇️ STEPS ⬇️⬇️

• Firstly, we select the cell E6 and write the following formula down on the formula bar:

• Another alternative way of writing the formula is to select the cell E6 and write the following formula down:

• Moreover, another way of writing the formula is as follows:

• The new price of an Apple phone will be shown in the cell E6.
• Now we select the Fill Handle of cell E6 and drag it down to get the results of the remaining cells.

• Therefore, the results will look like the following image:

📄  Important Notes

🖊️  The Percent Style option (%) multiplies a cell with 100 and then shows the value in terms of percentage. So, we should keep this in mind before using this command.

🖊️  The Paste Special option allows us to calculate the percentages of a large number of cells by pasting the values across multiple cells and performing different operations in the process.

🖊️  In the second and third formulas shown in the applying formula to a number approach, the values are not independent of percent change. If we change the percent change to other values such as 10% or 20%, we have to adjust the formula accordingly.

📝 Takeaways from This Article

You have taken the following summed-up inputs from the article:

📌  We can add percentage to a cell value by applying the Percent Style option. It multiplies the existing value with 100 and shows it as a percentage.

📌  We can do percentage addition or subtraction to a number with the help of formulas to find new values after addition or subtraction or by using paste special command to modify the values of a large number of cells.

Conclusion

This article will hopefully help you to be able to grasp the ways in which you can add a percentage to a number in Excel. If you have any queries, then feel free to ask questions in the comment thread or reach out to me. Follow our ExcelDen website for more Excel-related articles and insights.