How do add percentage in Calc?

users
#1

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahah, now i see the original question it makes more sense! :)  If A1 is going to contain a normal number and A2 a percentage then a 3rd cell such as A3 would be the best place for the answer.  It keeps the original number unchanged so that you can check the result.

In A3 type in the formula given earlier
=A1+(A1*A2/100)

This assumes the number in A2 is just written as a number without having the % mark after it.  There is an inconsistency in that if you type in the number and then
Format - Cell - General - Percentage
then the number would be shown as 290%.  However if you format the relevant cells in advance, in the same way, and then type in the number 2.9 then it shows as 2.9%.  Also if you don't bother with any formatting and just use the % key on your keyboard to type in 2.9% then it is shown as 2.9% in the cell and is treated as a number.  So, obviously it is wise to do a test-run first to see if you get the result you expect.

A percentage is really just a number "over" or "divided by" 100 of course.  So 2.9% is really 2.9/100 which is obviously 0.029.  Typing in 0.029 can cause further confusion of course. lol

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#2

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahah, now i see the original question it makes more sense! :)  If A1 is going to contain a normal number and A2 a percentage then a 3rd cell such as A3 would be the best place for the answer.  It keeps the original number unchanged so that you can check the result.

In A3 type in the formula given earlier
=A1+(A1*A2/100)

This assumes the number in A2 is just written as a number without having the % mark after it.  There is an inconsistency in that if you type in the number and then
Format - Cell - General - Percentage
then the number would be shown as 290%.  However if you format the relevant cells in advance, in the same way, and then type in the number 2.9 then it shows as 2.9%.  Also if you don't bother with any formatting and just use the % key on your keyboard to type in 2.9% then it is shown as 2.9% in the cell and is treated as a number.  So, obviously it is wise to do a test-run first to see if you get the result you expect.

Oh man, you just made a very simple thing like percent to look very complicated…
It's very easy, most of us learned about it at the age of something
like ten, maybe earlier in some other countries, I don't know.
Just type 100 into A1, then 2.9% into A2 (LibreOffice Calc will
automatically convert it to 2.9/100 for you, but it still shows up as
”2.9%”, which is the same thing anyway), and finally =A1*(1+A2) in A3
and you'll get 102.9 as a result in A3, simple as that.

If you want it to be even more obvious what's going on, enter
=A1*(100%+A2) in A3. 100% will automatically be changed to 1, though,
so you'll get the same =A1*(1+A2) anyway.

Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg
ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
It takes skill.  Didn't Isaac Newton write an entire book, a huge tome of a book too, about "1"?

There is an inconsistency which might be worth writing up as a bug-report except that Excel does exactly the same and is possibly useful to some people.

Also some people on this list might not be ten yet (or do ten-year-olds do trig functions and calculus nowadays?) or those of us that are decades older might be too focused on 'higher planes' and not remember stuff like that from school. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#4

I hope this makes sense to you. I can do screen shots or give an example
.ods file.
I wanted to take a fixed dollar amount, an average of percentages and the
dollar amount from the sum of the average.
In other words:
I am given $39,583.73 and based on 4.29% I receive $1,698.50

(Curr. Fmt) (% FMT)
Column A Column B Column C
               2.30
               3.10
               2.10
               3.10
               4.30
               4.40
               2.20
               13.70
               5.50
               3.70
               2.80

$39,583.73 =AVERAGE(B1:B11) =SUM(A13*B13)

This example:
Where $39,583.73 is cell A13
Where =AVERAGE(B1:B11) is cell B13 & should display 0.0429090909
Where =SUM(A13*B13) is cell C13 & should display $1,698.50

I right clicked on B13 and selected "remove direct formating".

#5

I wanted to take a fixed dollar amount, an average of percentages and the dollar amount from the sum of the average. In other words: I am given $39,583.73 and based on 4.29% I receive $1,698.50

(Curr. Fmt) (% FMT)
Column A Column B Column C
               2.30
               3.10
               ...

$39,583.73 =AVERAGE(B1:B11) =SUM(A13*B13)

Er, so what is the question, please?

This example:
Where $39,583.73 is cell A13

Your currency vales in column A should be entered as numbers, without the $ sign or the comma (and not as text), and formatted as Currency. Is that what you have?

Where =AVERAGE(B1:B11) is cell B13 & should display 0.0429090909

The average of the numbers you have supplied is 4.29, of course, not 0.429 - which is 4.29%. The best way to handle column B is to format the column *first* as Percent and then enter the values as numbers - 2.30 and so on - so that the display is 2.30% but the actual numerical value stored will be 0.023 and so on: the actual fractions that you need. If these were genuinely formatted as Percent you would see % signs, so it seems that you have not done this.

Where =SUM(A13*B13) is cell C13 ...

I understand =A13*B13 - but you are trying to sum this with nothing! SUM() means "add all these up", not just "please do a calculation for me". Use just =A13*B13 .

... & should display $1,698.50

If you do as above and format column C (or just cell C13) as Currency, that is indeed what you should see.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker