The board of a household-goods company in Tashkent met on a Friday afternoon. One director asked a short question about the company's most popular kettle: by what percent did revenue change from last year to this year?
The finance team had two facts ready. First, the kettle's price had risen by 10 percent. Second, the number of kettles sold had fallen by 10 percent. A young analyst said they could not answer yet: they would need last year's actual revenue, and the accounts department had gone home.
The finance director, Shahzod, disagreed. Revenue is price times quantity, he explained. If the price is multiplied by one point one and the quantity by zero point nine, revenue is multiplied by zero point nine nine. That is a fall of one percent, regardless of whether last year's revenue was fifty thousand dollars or five million.
The young analyst still thought the actual figure would help. Shahzod agreed that the board might want it for other reasons, but not for this question. A percent change compares two numbers; it does not need either of them, only the factors that turn one into the other.
The board had its answer before the coffee arrived: revenue from the kettle had fallen by about one percent. The higher price had not quite made up for the lost sales.
The director who had asked the question added one more. "If we had raised the price by 10 percent and sold the same number, what then?" This time even the young analyst answered without hesitating: a ten percent rise, and still no need for last year's figure. The meeting moved on to the next item.