Forum Discussion
When will the next Excel AMA occur in 2019?
I need to ask the product managers about Excel.
I want to know why Excel multiplies numbers by 100 to calculate percentages?
Example, I have 15.00 but when I apply percentage formatting it goes to 1500% and then I have to go back in and edit. This makes no sense to me. I just need it to apply the % formatting not do calculations.
Who made this decision to do it this way and why?
4 Replies
Hello George Carlisle,
Haytham Amairah is correct in his description that 15 is in fact 1500%. I just want to add a couple of things to this:
In excel, when you format a number as a percentage, by definition "Percentage formats multiply the cell value by 100 and displays the result with a percentage symbol." So, 15 would become (15*100)% or 1500%.
With that in mind, it is possible to display 15 as 15%. To do this, you may create a custom format of type 0.00##\%. This will turn 15 into 15% strictly from a visual point of view, however, the cell's value is still 15 or 1500% not 15%. So, if you were to use this cell in any further calculations (i.e. multiplying this cell by 2), keep in mind that you will by calculating with 1500% and not 15% (i.e. multiplying this cell by 2 becomes 30 or 3000% not 30%).
I would suggest that you manually change your cells to a percentage either by dividing by 100 (i.e. 15/100) or by adding a % to the end of the number (i.e. 15%).
I hope this helps!
PReaganI discovered the answer today.
You don't have to format the cell first...you just have to add "%" or remove it(office AI might add it for you) after whatever you key in.
PReaganThanks both of you for your comments. Let me play with this. I need to test some things because I use lots of references in my calculations. Also, I'm spending too much time formatting inputs and I have to find a faster way to do this. I just can't keep doing the same thing everytime.
Hi,
In fact, Excel doesn't multiply the number by 100, it's just changing the format of it.
The integer 1 is represented in the percent format in 100%.
So when you format this number 15 (which is fifteen integers) as Percent the result is 1500%. that's correct!
Each 1 in 15 = 100%
15 = 1500%
To check that, see the result of this formula:
=15=1500%
The result is TRUE.
If you want to apply the percent format without going back and edit the cell, you need to have this number instead of 15.00:
0.15
0.15 is a decimal number which is a fraction of 1 integer.
Hope that helps
