Niek,

In Excel I would do percentage calulations as you describe but only because
modern tools such as Excel have made me lazy. I learnt these calculations in
the days before spreadsheets and calculators when multiplyng a number by 25%
using pencil and paper simply made (and still makes) no sense hence my
qualified answer to the OP that there are several methods.

In my humble view it is much better that someone inderstands how a
percentage is arrived at then have them accept that =mynumber*25% will work
it out for you.

Regards,

Mike H

"Niek Otten" wrote:

Hi Mike,

My standard answer:
================================================== ===========
About percentages in Excel

Niek Otten, July 26 2006

In Excel, percentages are stored as fractions; 15% is stored as 0.15, 100% as 1. That makes it easy to calculate with; just
multiply a number with a percentage and you get what you need. No need to divide/multiply by 100. In fact, if you see a
calculation with percentages which has the number 100 somewhere in the formula; be very careful, it might be wrong or at least use
percentages in a way they weren't meant to be used in Excel.
The conversion to a fraction happens automatically if you enter the % sign: if you enter "15%" (without the quotes) the
value will be 0.15 and it will be displayed as 15%. If you then enter 12 in the same cell, two things can happen: It will be the
number 12 or 12%. What happens in your case depends on a setting:
ToolsOptions, Edit tab, "Enable automatic percent entry" (only Excel2000 and newer).
All built-in functions of Excel and all the functions in Analysis Toolpak use this representation of percentages: be careful
when supplying parameters to these functions; never use whole numbers (like 8), always use fractions (like 0.08 or, even better,
8%).

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q:
I have A1 and B1. How do I get C1 to show B1 as a percentage of A1?
A:
Formula in C1: =B1/A1, Format as %

Q:
I have A1 and B1. How do I show the difference as a percentage in C1?
A:
As a percentage of A1: =(B1-A1)/A1, Format as %
As a percentage of B1: =(B1-A1)/B1, Format as %


--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

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"Mike H" wrote in message ...
| There are a few ways and it may become more understandable to you if you
| consider this. Dividing any number by 100 gives 1% of that number so in your
| case
|
| 196/100*25 = 25% of 196
|
| to make this into an excel formula put an = sign in front
|
| =196/100*25
|
| Mike
|
| "adstarc" wrote:
|
| I am new to excel and I am trying to find out how to do percentages. One of
| my questions is find out 25% of 196 and I am just drawing a blank!