Grade 6 · Math · Lesson 14

Percent Increase and Decrease

Percent change tells you how much an amount has gone UP or DOWN compared to the amount you started with. A price tag that drops from $80 to $60 is a percent decrease. A test score that climbs from 50 to 60 is a percent increase. The same simple recipe works in both cases: find the change, divide by the ORIGINAL amount, then multiply by 100.

What this lesson teaches

1Find the change between two amounts by subtracting old from new
2Compute the percent change by dividing the change by the original amount
3Distinguish a percent increase from a percent decrease using the direction of change
4Apply percent change to real situations like prices, scores, and populations

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