Math Is Fun Forum

Casi

Member

Registered: 2009-03-06

Posts: 4

% rates in currencies

Hi

I'm having real problems with something. I'm trying to work out % of decrease in value of 3 currencies against the British Pound as follows:
            BRL            USD            EU
USD 5/3/07    4.1319    1.9455    1.4790
USD 5/3/09    3.3769    1.4075    1.1221
% drop               18%         28%          24%

I can't work out why the BRL, which made the biggest loss, is showing the lowest %. I must be using the wrong formula to work out the percentages (I'm dividing the 09 figure by the 08 figure).
I expected the BRL to have the highest % drop but it's the lowest.

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

It's driving me nuts!

Thank you

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,947

Re: % rates in currencies

Your calcultions are correct.
The reason is BRL had/has  a higher value of exchange (Vs GBP) than USD and EU. Hence higher drop is taken care by the higher value. Nothing's wrong!

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

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Casi

Member

Registered: 2009-03-06

Posts: 4

Re: % rates in currencies

Oh thank you so much!

So on that basis, is the person getting GBP to BRL still off than the person getting GBP to USD? The % is lower but the difference between the 2 is higher. I need a penny to drop here!