Excel formula: Get original price from percentage discount

Generic formula

=price/(1-discount)

Explanation

If you have a discounted price and know the discount percentage, you can calculate the original price with a simple formula that divides the discounted price by the result of 1 minus the discount percentage.

How the formula works

In the example, the active cell contains this formula:

=C6/(1-D6)

In this case, Excel first calculates the result of 1 - the value in D6 (.2) to get 0.8. Next the value in C6 (56), which represents the discounted or "sale" price, is divided by 0.8 to get a final result of 70:

=56/(1-0.2)
=56/0.8
=70

Author

Dave Bruns

Related formulas

Increase by percentage

If you need to increase a number by a certain percentage, you can use a simple formula that multiplies the number times the percent + 1. How this formula works In the example, the active cell contains this formula: = C6 * ( 1 + D6 ) In this case,...

Decrease by percentage

If you need to decrease a number by a certain percentage, you can use a simple formula that multiplies the number times the percent - 1. How the formula works In the example, the active cell contains this formula: = C6 * ( 1 - D6 ) In this case,...

Percent of goal

If you need to calculate percent of goal, you can do so with a simple formula that divides the actual by the goal amount, with the result formatted using the percentage number format. This same formula can be used to calculate things like percent of...

Calculate percent variance

You can calculate a percent variance by subtracting the original number from the new number, then dividing that result by the original. For example, if the baseline number is 100, and the new number is 110: = ( 110 - 100 ) / 100 This formula can be...

Get total from percentage

If you have an amount and the percentage that the amount represents of a total, you can calculate the total with a formula that simply divides the amount by the percentage. How the formula works In the example, the active cell contains this formula...

Get amount with percentage

If you have a total and a percentage that presents some amount of the total, you can calculate the amount represented by the percentage with a simple formula that multiples the total by the percentage. How the formula works In the example, the...

Get percentage discount

If you have a discounted price and an original price, and you want to know the discount as a percentage, you can calculate the percentage discount using a formula that divides the discounted price by the original price and then subtracts the result...

Get percentage of total

To calculate percent of a total (i.e. calculate a percent distribution), you can use a formula that simply divides an amount by the total. In the example shown, the formula in D6 is: = C6 / $C$11 Note: the result is formatted with Percentage number...

Excel Formula Training

Formulas are the key to getting things done in Excel. In this accelerated training, you'll learn how to use formulas to manipulate text, work with dates and times, lookup values with VLOOKUP and INDEX & MATCH, count and sum with criteria, dynamically rank values, and create dynamic ranges. You'll also learn how to troubleshoot, trace errors, and fix problems. Instant access. See details here.