Finance
Discount Calculator
Enter a price and a percentage to get the sale price and how much you save — or run it backwards to find the original price, work out the percent off between two prices, and add sales tax. Every result updates as you type.
What do you want to find?
The list / ticket price
$
Percent taken off
%
Sale price
$60.00
25% off · save $20.00
$80.00 − $20.00 = $60.00
25% off75% of price kept
Original
$80.00
You save
$20.00
Sale price
$60.00
Try an example
No sign-up · Free
The basics
What is a discount?
A discount is a fraction taken off a price. Turn the percentage into a decimal rate by dividing by 100, then either subtract the saving from the price or multiply the price by what's left. Both readings always give the same number — pick whichever is quicker for the value in front of you.
sale = price × (1 − rate)
The keep fraction
After a discount you keep 1 − rate of the price. Multiply once and you have the sale price — no separate subtraction needed.
$80 × (1 − 0.25) = $60
saved = price × rate
The amount off
The dollars you save are the price times the rate. It's the gap between the ticket price and what you actually hand over.
$80 × 0.25 = $20
Method
How to work out a discount by hand
Three steps take any price and percentage to a sale price.
- 1
Turn the percent into a decimal
Divide the percentage by 100. This is the rate — the share of the price the discount removes.
25% ÷ 100 = 0.25 - 2
Multiply to find the saving
Multiply the original price by the rate. The result is how much money the discount takes off.
$80 × 0.25 = $20 - 3
Subtract to find the sale price
Take the saving away from the original price. What remains is the sale price you pay.
$80 − $20 = $60
Worked examples
See it solved three ways
The same numbers, read forward and backward: find the sale price, recover the original, or work out the percent off between two prices.
Given price = $80.00 and 25% off
Rate as a decimal: 25 ÷ 100 = 0.25
Discount: $80.00 × 0.25 = $20.00
Sale price: $80.00 − $20.00 = $60.00
Sale price = $60.00
Quick chart
What is X% off this price?
Set a price and read the sale price and saving for every common discount at a glance — the fast way to answer “what is 30% off $120?” without retyping.
Price
Sale price & savings for every common discount$
5% off · save $5.00
$95.00
10% off · save $10.00
$90.00
15% off · save $15.00
$85.00
20% off · save $20.00
$80.00
25% off · save $25.00
$75.00
30% off · save $30.00
$70.00
33% off · save $33.00
$67.00
40% off · save $40.00
$60.00
50% off · save $50.00
$50.00
60% off · save $60.00
$40.00
70% off · save $70.00
$30.00
75% off · save $75.00
$25.00
80% off · save $80.00
$20.00
90% off · save $90.00
$10.00
Stacking
Extra % off the sale price
“30% off, then an extra 20% at the register” is not 50% off. Successive discounts multiply because each one comes off an already-smaller price. Add your own and watch the real effective rate.
$
Discounts in order
First
% off
Then
% off
Final price
$56.00
44% effective off · save $44.00
- $100.00 − 30%$70.00
- $70.00 − 20%$56.00
Stacked discounts multiply, they don't add. Adding the rates would suggest 50% off, but applying them in turn gives only 44% — each cut comes off an already-smaller price.
Stacked table
"X% off then Y% off" — the real rate
Read down for the first discount, across for the second: the cell is the true combined percent off. Because the cuts multiply, it is always less than adding the two rates.
| First ↓ / Then → | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% | 30% | 40% | 50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 19% | 23.5% | 28% | 32.5% | 37% | 46% | 55% |
| 15% | 23.5% | 27.75% | 32% | 36.25% | 40.5% | 49% | 57.5% |
| 20% | 28% | 32% | 36% | 40% | 44% | 52% | 60% |
| 25% | 32.5% | 36.25% | 40% | 43.75% | 47.5% | 55% | 62.5% |
| 30% | 37% | 40.5% | 44% | 47.5% | 51% | 58% | 65% |
| 40% | 46% | 49% | 52% | 55% | 58% | 64% | 70% |
| 50% | 55% | 57.5% | 60% | 62.5% | 65% | 70% | 75% |
Example: 30% then 20% reads 44% off, not 50% — you pay 0.7 × 0.8 = 56% of the ticket price. Order does not matter; the product is the same either way.
Reverse table
Find the original price from what you paid
Work a discount backwards: divide the price paid by the keep fraction to recover the list price. Find what you paid on the left and the discount across the top.
| Paid | 10% off | 20% off | 25% off | 30% off | 40% off | 50% off | 70% off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25.00 | $27.78 | $31.25 | $33.33 | $35.71 | $41.67 | $50.00 | $83.33 |
| $50.00 | $55.56 | $62.50 | $66.67 | $71.43 | $83.33 | $100.00 | $166.67 |
| $75.00 | $83.33 | $93.75 | $100.00 | $107.14 | $125.00 | $150.00 | $250.00 |
| $100.00 | $111.11 | $125.00 | $133.33 | $142.86 | $166.67 | $200.00 | $333.33 |
| $150.00 | $166.67 | $187.50 | $200.00 | $214.29 | $250.00 | $300.00 | $500.00 |
| $200.00 | $222.22 | $250.00 | $266.67 | $285.71 | $333.33 | $400.00 | $666.67 |
| $300.00 | $333.33 | $375.00 | $400.00 | $428.57 | $500.00 | $600.00 | $1000.00 |
| $500.00 | $555.56 | $625.00 | $666.67 | $714.29 | $833.33 | $1000.00 | $1666.67 |
Each cell is paid ÷ (1 − rate). It shows the list price a sale started from — the deeper the discount, the larger the gap between what you paid and the original.
Where it shows up
Why this matters
The same arithmetic drives a sticker price, a markdown plan, and a coupon comparison.
sale = price × (1 − rate)
Shopping
Check a register price, compare two coupons, or decide whether a clearance markdown is really the deal the tag promises.
margin after markdown
Retail & pricing
Stores plan markdowns to clear stock while protecting margin, choosing the rate that moves inventory without selling below cost.
original = paid ÷ (1 − rate)
Budgeting
Work backward from what you paid to the list price to gauge a sale's true depth, or forward to see if an item fits the budget after tax.
Worth knowing
Rules that keep you accurate
A handful of facts cover almost every discount situation you'll meet.
sale = price × (1 − rate)
Multiply, don't two-step
You don't need to find the saving first. Multiplying by the keep fraction lands on the sale price in one move.
0.8 × 0.8 = 0.64
Stacked rates multiply
Successive discounts never add. Chain the keep fractions to get the true combined reduction.
original = paid ÷ (1 − rate)
Reversing needs division
To undo a discount you divide, not multiply — and only when the rate is under 100%.
taxed = sale × (1 + tax)
Tax goes on the sale price
Sales tax is charged on the discounted price, so always apply the discount before the tax.
flat off ≠ % off
Flat vs percentage
A fixed dollar coupon is a bigger percentage on cheap items and a smaller one on expensive items.
rate must be < 100%
100% off is the ceiling
A discount can reach but not exceed 100%. At 100% the item is free; beyond that the math stops meaning anything.
Common mistakes
Where the math goes wrong
Three slips account for most wrong discount answers — each easy to avoid once named.
not 40%
Adding stacked rates
Treating “20% then 20%” as 40% overstates the saving. The real figure is 36% — chain the fractions instead.
÷, don't ×
Multiplying to reverse
Multiplying the paid price by the rate doesn't recover the original. You divide by the keep fraction to go backward.
tax after, not before
Taxing the full price
Charging tax on the original price inflates the total. Tax only ever lands on the discounted amount.
FAQ
Common questions
Convert the percentage to a decimal by dividing by 100, then multiply the original price by that rate to get the amount saved. A $80 item at 25% off saves $80 × 0.25 = $20. Subtract that from the price for the sale price: $80 − $20 = $60.
Multiply the original price by (1 − rate). For 25% off, that is 1 − 0.25 = 0.75, so a $80 item costs $80 × 0.75 = $60. This is the one-step version of subtracting the discount from the price.
Divide the price you paid by (1 − rate). If you paid $60 after 25% off, the list price was $60 ÷ 0.75 = $80. This only works for discounts below 100%, because at 100% off the price is free and the original can't be recovered.
Subtract the new price from the old price to get the amount saved, divide by the old price, then multiply by 100. From $80 down to $60 is ($80 − $60) ÷ $80 × 100 = 25% off.
No — they multiply. Two successive 20% discounts leave 0.8 × 0.8 = 0.64 of the price, a 36% total reduction, not 40%. Each cut is taken off an already-reduced price, so the second one is smaller in dollar terms.
Start at the full price, take 30% off to reach 70% of it, then take 20% off that to reach 0.7 × 0.8 = 0.56. You pay 56% of the original and save 44% — not the 50% you'd get by adding the rates.
Tax is applied to the discounted price, not the original. Find the sale price first, then multiply by (1 + tax rate). A $60 sale price with 8.25% tax costs $60 × 1.0825 = $64.95. The calculator's tax toggle does this for you.
Only on a $100 item. A flat dollar amount is a fixed saving regardless of price, while a percentage scales with it. On a $50 item, $20 off is a 40% discount; on a $200 item the same coupon is only 10% off.
You pay 56% of the original. Take 30% off to reach 70% (0.70), then 20% off that to reach 0.70 × 0.80 = 0.56. A $100 item ends at $56 — a 44% total discount, not the 50% you'd get by adding 30 and 20.
No. Multiplication is commutative, so 30% then 20% gives the same result as 20% then 30%: both leave 0.7 × 0.8 = 0.8 × 0.7 = 0.56 of the price. The order only matters when one discount is a flat dollar amount rather than a percentage.
36% off. Two 20% cuts leave 0.8 × 0.8 = 0.64 of the price, so the combined discount is 1 − 0.64 = 0.36. The stacked-discount table on this page lists the effective rate for any two percentages.
Divide by the keep fraction: $63 ÷ (1 − 0.30) = $63 ÷ 0.70 = $90. The reverse-price table on this page does this for common amounts paid and discount rates.
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Ugo CharlesBuilt and fact-checked against our editorial standards · Last updated June 2026
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