Rent talk started in the kitchen.
Old rent 1,200, new ask 1,500.
Cousin said it went up a little.
I said 300 on 1,200 is 25 percent.
He got annoyed.
He had done 300 on 1,500 and got 20.
People flip the base and get a different story.
I made him pick the old number as the base
Increase percent sits on the starting price.
Start 1,200.
End 1,500.
Difference 300.
300 / 1,200 = 0.25.
25 percent.
If you divide 300 by 1,500, you get 20 percent.
That 20 is "the jump is 20 percent of the new rent".
That is a different sentence.
Useful maybe for a speech.
Not the usual "how much did it increase".
I opened percentage calculator so we stop arguing with a ketchup bottle as a calculator.
This is an estimate, not an official figure.
Which boxes, this exact jump
Calculation.
Pick Increase from A to B.
Value A is the old number.
I put 1200.
Value B is the new number.
I put 1500.
Calculate.
Increase shows 25.00%.
Difference shows 300.
If you pick Decrease from A to B by mistake, and you still put A 1200 and B 1500, the decrease will look negative or weird, because you did not decrease.
If you put A 1500 and B 1200 in decrease mode, you get 20 percent down.
That is the reverse trip.
From 1,500 back to 1,200 is 20 percent down.
Up 25, down 20.
Same two prices.
That is why people fight.
The percent is not symmetric.
I say that every time.
The other modes, so he dont pick the wrong job
The same tool has four jobs.
What is A percent of B.
A is what percent of B.
Increase from A to B.
Decrease from A to B.
If he wants 25 percent of 1,200, that is the first mode.
A 25, B 1200, result 300.
That is the rupee jump.
If he wants "1,200 is what percent of 1,500", that is the second mode.
A 1200, B 1500, about 80 percent.
So old rent is 80 percent of new rent.
Again, a true sentence, not the increase sentence.
I make him read the Calculation label before he types.
The labels on A and B stay Value A and Value B.
Meaning changes with the mode.
That is the only slightly annoying bit.
I live with it.
I tell him in words.
Increase, A old, B new.
Why 25 feels bigger than "a little"
1,200 to 1,500 is a 300 rupee hole every month.
In a year, 3,600.
He said a little because 300 looks small next to a salary.
Percent does not care about his salary.
Percent cares about the base price.
A 25 percent jump on vegetables feels different from 25 percent on rent, but the math is the same shape.
I also did 1,200 to 1,260.
That is 5 percent.
Difference 60.
He called that a little, and I agreed.
1,500 is not in that family.
If the shop writes 1,200 and then a sticker 1,500, I dont need a speech.
I need A and B.
Indian commas, 1,200 and 1,500.
The box can take 1200 and 1500.
Flipping the base, office edition
A vendor said cost went from 1,200 to 1,500, so they need 20 percent more from us.
They used new as base.
I said we see 25 percent on old.
Meeting became a language class.
We settled the rupee, 300 extra, and stopped saying percent.
Sometimes that is the adult move.
If you must say percent, say "25 percent increase on last year's 1,200".
Put the base in the sentence.
Dont say "it is 20-25 percent" like a weather report.
Those two numbers is not a range.
Those two numbers are two bases.
Yes, is/are.
You know what I meant.
Marks, discount, GST, not this job
If he wants marks, 42 out of 60, that is A is what percent of B.
Not increase.
If he wants MRP 1,999 with 35 percent off, that is the discount tool, or percent of.
I have a separate page for that kind of sticker.
If he wants GST inside 1,180, that is not increase.
That is bill is 1,180, how much GST is inside.
If he wants to pull a base out of 18 percent, how to pull original amount out of 18 percent GST.
Dont use increase mode for tax extract.
You will get a nonsense percent.
I tried it once as a joke.
A 1000 to 1180 increase is 18 percent.
That one happens to look like the GST rate.
Then 1200 to 1500 is 25, not a GST slab.
So a matching 18 is coincidence, not a method.
More pairs I ran so he gets the habit
1,000 to 1,250 is 25 percent too.
Same 25, different rupees.
2,400 to 3,000 is 25 percent.
He saw the pattern.
Add one fourth.
1,200 plus 300.
2,00,000 to 2,50,000 is 25 percent.
Salary hike talk.
I dont promise that hike.
I only do the percent.
0 to 1,500, increase mode, A is 0.
The tool cannot divide by zero in a pretty way.
Dont start from zero and ask percent increase.
Say, it went from nothing to 1,500 rupees, that is a new line, not a hike.
1,200 to 1,200 is 0 percent.
He should see 0 if he types the same number twice.
If he sees 25, he left old values.
Hit Calculate again.
Mistakes I still watch on his phone
A and B swapped.
A 1500, B 1200, increase mode.
Then you get a negative increase, which is a decrease in a trench coat.
He reads the minus and thinks the tool is broken.
It is not.
He swapped.
Typing 12 and 15, meaning 1,200 and 1,500 in his head.
Result 25 percent still, luckily, because the ratio is same.
Then he types 12 and 1500 one day, and the percent goes insane.
Be consistent.
Both in rupees as they are.
Both in thousands if you really want, both.
Not one each.
Putting 25 in both boxes.
Then increase from 25 to 25 is 0, or if he meant 25 percent of something, wrong mode.
I have seen that screenshot.
I still have it.
What I tell him to say to the landlord
You are asking 300 more on 1,200.
That is 25 percent.
I can do 1,320, that is 10 percent.
Or whatever he can actually pay.
I am not his negotiator.
I am the percent guy.
He should not say "it is only 20 percent" using the new rent as base, then act surprised when the landlord also knows class 7 math.
If they agree a rupee, write the rupee.
Percent is for the argument.
The standing instruction at the bank is a rupee.
Fill Calculation as Increase from A to B.
Fill Value A 1200.
Fill Value B 1500.
Read 25 percent and 300.
That is the whole kitchen scene.
I ate the remaining dal after he left.
25 percent more rent, 0 percent more dal.
I dont need a tool for that one.