ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Percentage change

Okay kiddo, let's talk about percentage change!

Imagine you have a toy truck that you really love. You decide to trade it with your friend for a toy plane. Your friend tells you that they will give you 20% more than what your toy truck is worth because it's in really good condition.

Percentage change is basically a way to measure how much something has increased or decreased, compared to its original amount. In our example, the percentage change is the difference between the original value of your toy truck and the new value you got for it, expressed as a percentage of the original value.

So if your toy truck was worth $10, the 20% increase would mean your friend gave you an extra $2 (which is 20% of $10) for a total of $12 in exchange for the truck. This means that the percentage change between the original value and the new value is 20%.

Now you might be wondering, what if you sold the truck to your friend for less than its original value? In that case, the percentage change would be negative because the value of the truck has gone down.

Percentage change is a useful tool to understand how much something has changed in value over time, and it can be calculated for all sorts of things like the price of goods, the value of stocks, and even your grades in school!