How to Calculate a Discount and Final Price

A discount is just a percentage taken off a price, and working out the final cost takes two short steps. Whether you are shopping a sale or setting one up, here is how to do it quickly and correctly.

The formula

There are two numbers you usually want: the amount you save, and the price you actually pay.

amount off = original price × (discount percent ÷ 100)

final price = original price - amount off

A worked example

A jacket costs $80 and is 25% off.

• amount off = 80 × (25 ÷ 100) = 80 × 0.25 = $20
• final price = 80 - 20 = $60

So you save $20 and pay $60.

A faster shortcut

You can skip a step by multiplying the price by what you will pay rather than what you save. If something is 25% off, you pay 75%, so:

• final price = 80 × 0.75 = $60

The trick is to subtract the discount from 100 first, then multiply. A 30% discount means you pay 70%, so multiply by 0.70, and so on.

Stacked discounts do not simply add up

If a coupon takes 20% off and then another 10% off at checkout, that is not 30% off. The second discount applies to the already reduced price.

• $100, 20% off = $80
• $80, then 10% off = $72

That is a 28% total discount, not 30%. Discounts multiply rather than add, so stacked offers save a little less than they first appear to.

Do it instantly

Our free Percentage Calculator can work out the amount off for you: enter the discount percent and the price, and it returns the saving, which you subtract from the original to get the final cost.

The takeaway

Multiply the price by the discount as a decimal to find the saving, then subtract it, or multiply by what you will actually pay for a one-step answer. Just remember that stacked discounts apply one after another, so they never quite add up to the sum of the two percentages.