I posted the question below last week and while it was answered, thank you, I am still unclear about my original question of how do I know what is considered the NEW value and what is considered the ORIGINAL value.
I understand there is a change, yes, but how do I put it in the correct order in the formula, because sometimes it will equal a negative percentage.
Thank you so much for clarifying for me so I can understand!
I am doing a project for math class and it is asking for the relative change. In our book, the formula is relative change = new value - original value/original value.
The project is we look up nutritional values of items at a restaurant and then we have to estimate values based on calories of fat, carbs and protein.
What I'm having trouble with understanding is this: what is considered my new value and what is considered my original value?
I have the value provided by the restaurant and I have the value I calculated.
Thank you.
you have a change, right?
Suppose you change from 6 to 10
The actual change is 10-6 = 4
The relative change is thus 4/6 or 67%
That is, 6 was increased by 2/3 of its value
eh? Clearly
the ORIGINAL value is what you start with
the NEW value is what you end with
I guess? I'm sorry to appear to dumb ... that is not obviously clear to me. That would make sense if I was losing weight or something like that, but in this particular situation, I have obtained values from the internet for nutritional values and also calculated values based on how many grams in fat, protein and carbohydrates. I haven't started or ended with anything.
you talk about a change
you have to start somewhere and end somewhere, with the change in between.
if you are losing weight, you weigh yourself today
you weigh yourself next week to see whether you have lost any weight, right?
So, if to day you weigh 125 and next week you weigh 118, then you have lost 7 lbs.
The actual change is -7
Now, the % change is what fraction of your original weight (today) was lost to arrive at your next checkpoint.
You lost 7 of 125 lbs, or 7/125 = 0.056 = 5.6%
That is, you lost 5.6% of your current weight.
Now, if your 50-lb dog lost 7 lbs, that could indicate a serious problem, since it represents 14% of its body weight
Whenever you hear statistics like the growth rate of 2.5% in the economy, that percentage figure is used to indicate the relative change is.
A gain of $1,000 may be very significant for a local business, which only made $5000 profit last year. That's a 20% increase
But for a city government with a budget of $50,000,000 that $1000 change is chump change. 1000/5000000 = 0.002%, a very tiny amount when compared with the total.
Actual change is very different from percent change.
Yes, I understand what you are talking about, but these are examples of changes. This project that I am working on is about nutritional facts -- the only changes are what is showing on the internet and what I am coming up with based on number of grams of fat, protein and carbs, for example, so I don't see what is considered "original" and what is considered "new", my very first question.
When calculating relative change using the formula relative change = (new value - original value) / original value, it's important to understand how to determine the new value and the original value.
In your specific case, you mentioned that you have a value provided by the restaurant and a value you calculated. The value provided by the restaurant can be considered the original value, as it represents the initial state or the starting point. The value you calculated can be considered the new value, as it represents the changed state or the final result.
To clarify, let's take an example:
Suppose the value provided by the restaurant for a particular nutritional value is 100 grams, and after your calculations, you found that the value should be 80 grams.
In this case:
- The original value would be 100 grams (provided by the restaurant).
- The new value would be 80 grams (calculated by you).
Using the formula, the relative change would be:
relative change = (new value - original value) / original value
= (80 - 100) / 100
= -20 / 100
= -0.2 or -20%
In this example, the relative change is a decrease of 20%, indicated by the negative sign. This means that the new value (80 grams) is 20% lower than the original value (100 grams).
Remember, when using the formula, always subtract the original value from the new value to determine the change. This will ensure that the relative change is calculated accurately.
I hope this explanation clears up any confusion about determining the new value and the original value when calculating relative change. Feel free to ask any further questions if needed!