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Increase or Decrease by a Percentage (using a multiplier)

In this worksheet, students will learn to increase or decrease an amount by using a multiplier, plus apply this skill to written problems.

Worksheet Overview

Percentages are all around us... we just don't see them most of the time.

 

We may need to calculate increases... these are sometimes good like a pay rise, but can also be bad, like bills rising each year.

 

We may also need to calculate percentage decreases... sometimes good like a tax bill decreasing, or sometimes bad like the value of a something you own (like a car) reducing.

 

A small man beside a giant pair of legs 

 

Has he got bigger, or have I got smaller?

 

To find a percentage increase, we need to use a multiplier.

 

e.g. Increase 350 by 22%.

 

As we want to find 22% more than our original value, we need to add our 22% on top of our starting 100%. 

So our multiplier, in this case, will be 1.22, which represents 122% of the original value. 

 

Then we multiply our starting value by this:

350 × 1.22 = 427

 

 

But what about if we are looking for a percentage decrease?

 

e.g. Decrease 350 by 22%. 

 

You may be tempted to think that we need to complete the sum 350 × 0.22, right?

No, no, no! This tells us what 22% of 350 is, not how much remains after a 22% decrease

 

Care is needed here. Remember that 'percent' means out of 100

 

So we need to take the 22% from 100% first.

This makes sense if we give it some thought - we want to have 22% less than the value we started with, which represented 100%.

 

100 - 22 = 78

We only want to find the 78% that is left.

 

To complete the decrease, we calculate:

350 x 0.78 = 273

 

snail

 

Take it slowly and we will get there...

 

In this activity, we will calculate the percentage increases and decreases using raw numbers and in real-life situations. 

 

You may want to have a calculator handy to use, so you can concentrate on practising these methods and not exhausting your mental maths brain!

 

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