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Throughout my life, I read a "60% increase in x" as $ 60\% * x + x $. For example, if a question asked, "If the initial value of Gold was $39, 162 and if it increased by 50%, what is the price now?", I'd add 50% of 39,162 to get 58, 743.

Now, if I was asked to describe this change, I'd say "The price of Gold increased by 50%". Recently, while I was going through the manual of a calculator though, it said this:

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That is, it is describing the "incease in weight" as a 160% increase -- while to me it's just a 60% increase ($ \frac {300}{500} = 0.6 $). What is right terminology to use? To me, a 160% increase is not the same as a 60% increase. It'd make more sense to say that it changed by 160%.

Are both terminologies accepted (increased by 60% vs increased by 160%)? If so, how do we avoid confusion?

WorldGov
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    That’s odd. The percentage change of $a$ to $b$ is found by $\big(\frac{b-a}{a}\cdot 100\big)$%. In that example, the percentage change is $60$%, not $160$%. $500$ is $160$% of $300$, but that’s not the same as percentage increase, since it includes the initial $100$% of the original value. – KM101 Oct 18 '18 at 19:58
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    The manual is wrong. – Jens Oct 18 '18 at 20:01
  • Thank you. I've added an answer myself to this question to mark it as solved. – WorldGov Oct 18 '18 at 20:35

1 Answers1

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The manual is wrong. In the example given in the question, the percentage change is 60%, not 160%.

(Credts: users KM101 and Jens in the comments).

WorldGov
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