Enter a price and a discount percentage to get the final price and the amount you save.
How discounts really work
A discount calculator finds the price after a percentage is taken off and shows how much you save. The everyday version is simple, but two situations cause confusion and cost people money.
The first is stacked discounts. Taking twenty percent off and then another ten percent does not equal thirty percent off, because the second discount applies to the already reduced price. The true combined discount is twenty eight percent, found by multiplying the remaining fractions.
The second is working backward from a sale price to the original. To recover the original you divide by one minus the discount rate rather than adding the percentage back. Apply any sales tax after the discount, never before.
The formula
Worked example
An 80 item at 25% off = 80 x 0.75 = 60, saving 20.
How to read your result
Stacked discounts multiply rather than add: 20% then 10% off is 0.80 x 0.90 = 28% off, not 30%.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I stack two discounts?
- Multiply the remaining fractions, not the percentages.
- Does this include tax?
- No - apply sales tax after the discount using the Sales Tax Calculator.
- How do I find the original price?
- Divide the final price by (1 - discount/100).
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