I know this is fairly old but I figured this was as good as any to put this. I found a post from yahoo with a good explanation:
Let's say you have two numbers, 40 and 30.
30/40*100 = 75.
So 30 is 75% of 40.
40/30*100 = 133.
So 40 is 133% of 30.
The percentage increase from 30 to 40 is:
(40-30)/30 * 100 = 33%
The percentage decrease from 40 to 30 is:
(40-30)/40 * 100 = 25%.
These calculations hold true whatever your two numbers.
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