# Question on calulating savings as a percentage in Excel.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-calulating-savings-as-a-percentage-in-excel/67690>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 5, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-calulating-savings-as-a-percentage-in-excel/67690 "2001-06-05T15:40:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Doubleclick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Doubleclick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubleclick)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-calulating-savings-as-a-percentage-in-excel/67690/1 "2001-06-05T15:40:19Z")

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I am trying to find the formula to calculate the savings erned between two values.

IE:  
Cost of Item 1 = 1400  
Cost of Item 2 = 1600  
Q: What percent is saved when buying I1 over I2?

I1/I2=% so 1400/1600 = .87 Or 87%

Now…100-87 = 13.

That “13” should be the savings percentage no? But I can’t figure out how to get Excel to calculate that in a formula. Any ideas??? (I have a feeling this is so simple and I’m gonna smack myself in the head when I see it…)

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**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-calulating-savings-as-a-percentage-in-excel/67690/2 "2001-06-05T15:47:59Z")

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1 - I1/I2

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**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-calulating-savings-as-a-percentage-in-excel/67690/3 "2001-06-05T15:49:16Z")

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Do you mean:

Savings Percentage = (I2 - I1)/I2

Or, in your example, the money you save is $1600-$1400 = $200, and the original cost is $1600, so the savings percentage = ($1600-$1400)/$1600 = 12.5%

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**Author:** ![Doubleclick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Doubleclick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubleclick)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2001, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-calulating-savings-as-a-percentage-in-excel/67690/4 "2001-06-05T16:06:48Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tretiak \*  
> **1 - I1/I2**

Perfect! Thanks dude! It worked!

I was using: =(D3/G3)-1

Apart from the obvious, D3 and G3 were in the wrong order.  
See? I told you I’d be smacking myself in the head…

Zut: Yep. That’s what I was looking for.