Price after a percent off
A discount removes a percentage of the original price. Twenty-five percent off $80.00 saves 80 × 0.25 = $20.00, so the sale price is 80 − 20 = $60.00. You can also multiply by what remains: 25% off leaves 75%, and 80 × 0.75 = 60. Both routes are the same arithmetic. The calculator shows the sale price and the dollars saved together, because a “25% off” sign does not print the dollar amount.
The percent is always of the price you start from, not of the price you end at. Taking 25% off and then asking what percent $20 is of $60 gives 33%, which is a different question. The discount rate on this page is savings divided by the original price.
Worked example: two discounts in a row
A tag says 20% off, and the register takes another 10% off the reduced price. The combined discount is not 30%.
- Start at $100.00.
- Twenty percent off leaves 80: 100 × 0.80 = 80.
- Ten percent of the new price is $8.00, so the second price is 80 × 0.90 = $72.00.
- You saved $28.00 on the original $100.00, which is 28% off, not 30%. The missing 2% is the overlap: the second discount does not apply to the $20 already removed.
Working backward from a sale price
If a shirt was $120 and is now $84, the savings are 120 − 84 = $36. The discount rate is 36 ÷ 120 × 100 = 30%. Enter the original in the first box of the second block and the sale price in the second. A “compare at” price that was never the real selling price still produces a percentage, but the percentage only describes those two numbers. It does not prove the earlier price was charged.
Tax is separate. A 20% discount and an 8% sales tax do not cancel. Apply the discount first, then the tax to the reduced price, unless the sign says the tax is included. This page stops at the discount. For a plain “what is 8% of the total,” use the percentage calculator.