[sworthy]

Quick math question b/c I can't think for some reason today...

I'm trying to compute a simple percent change in a stock price, but because a negative change is involved, I'm running into a problem.

Initial price - $52.45
Current price - $9.80

According to my memory it should just be the difference between the two (52.45-9.80) divided by the original (52.45).

The result is a decrease of a little over 81%. Intuitively this just doesn't seem right as 9.8 times 5 is still less than 52.45, so shouldn't the decrease be by more than 500%? I think the 81% decrease is the 'answer', but it doesn't really make sense logically, can anyone explain this?

[ambush]

oh hum... your stock lost 81% of its value... that's absolutely all there is to it...

if your stock had lost more than 100 of its value it would be in |R-

[spiky_dog]

your initial thought was correct. going from 50 to 45 would be a 10% decrease, 50 to 10 would be an 80% decrease (with yours being analogous to that).

[Weezer]

the value has decreased 81.3%, as in you have 18.7% of the original value left. So if you multiply 52.45 by 0.187, you get your 9.8.

[saltines17]

Originally posted by sworthy:
Quick math question b/c I can't think for some reason today...

I'm trying to compute a simple percent change in a stock price, but because a negative change is involved, I'm running into a problem.

Initial price - $52.45
Current price - $9.80

According to my memory it should just be the difference between the two (52.45-9.80) divided by the original (52.45).

The result is a decrease of a little over 81%. Intuitively this just doesn't seem right as 9.8 times 5 is still less than 52.45, so shouldn't the decrease be by more than 500%? I think the 81% decrease is the 'answer', but it doesn't really make sense logically, can anyone explain this?

A decrease of 100% would mean the current price is 0.

[sworthy]

Originally posted by Weezer:
the value has decreased 81.3%, as in you have 18.7% of the original value left. So if you multiply 52.45 by 0.187, you get your 9.8.

Thanks so much everyone... for some reason this made the most sense to me.

btw, anyone just hear steven tyler suck it up singing the national anthem?

[Rev-O]

Yes, it is an 81% ish savings. A 100% savings would equate to free. So it follows that a 500% savings would mean that the buyer would get $209.80 in return for buying the item (100% off plus 400% in return).

Looking at it from the other side, a $9.80 item marked up to $52.45 would be a price increase of some 500%.

[Scifience]

Originally posted by Rev-O:
Yes, it is an 81% ish savings. A 100% savings would equate to free. So it follows that a 500% savings would mean that the buyer would get $209.80 in return for buying the item (100% off plus 400% in return).

Looking at it from the other side, a $9.80 item marked up to $52.45 would be a price increase of some 500%.

Um, did you miss that the OP was talking about the stock market, not shopping?

[Rev-O]

Originally posted by Scifience:
Um, did you miss that the OP was talking about the stock market, not shopping?

Yes, I did. What's your point?