Take a percentage back out
Recover the net price from a gross one — and why subtracting 20% is wrong.
Task:
Your receipts show prices including 20% VAT. Put each item's price before VAT in C2:C6.
Hints
+5 XPno-hints bonusSolve it on your own to keep the bonus. Each hint gets one step closer to the formula.
Variations of Percentage Calculations
0/4The same formula in the other shapes it takes at work.
- Percentage Calculations
Calculate percentages using basic arithmetic.
CoreIntermediate - Percentage change
New minus old, divided by old — and why the order matters.
Intermediate - Add a percentage to a price
Price × (1 + rate), with the rate kept in one cell.
Beginner - Take a percentage back out
Recover the net price from a gross one — and why subtracting 20% is wrong.
Intermediate
The data in this exercise
This is the grid you start with. Cell references in the task — B6, C2 — point at the row numbers and column letters below.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Receipt line | Price inc. VAT | Price ex. VAT |
| 2 | Printer paper | 30 | |
| 3 | Toner | 96 | |
| 4 | Stapler | 18 | |
| 5 | Whiteboard | 144 | |
| 6 | Sticky notes | 7.2 |
What this exercise teachesMay contain the answer
The 20% was added to the net price, so it is 20% of a smaller number than the one on the receipt. Subtracting 20% of the gross takes off too much: 30 less 20% is 24, but 24 plus 20% VAT is 28.80, not 30. Dividing by 1.2 undoes exactly what multiplying by 1.2 did.