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I don't have a math background so am lacking in intuition when it comes to problems like this.

I have X green apples out of a total of Y apples (red, green, etc). Let's say X=5 and Y=20, so I have 25% green apples.

Both X and Y can change, and I want to know if there is a way to "hold" onto this 25% number as a benchmark of sorts without the numbers messing things up. Like if Y increases to 50, then X=5 means it's now 10% of the total. If Y goes down to 10, then X is 50% of the total. If X goes up to 10 while Y stays at 20, then X is 50% of the total.

Is there any way to keep this percent of the whole "stable"? I want to use the initial 25% (X=5, Y=20) as an absolute benchmark of sorts regardless X and Y being is flux.

I hope I've explained this well and am not thinking about anything incorrectly. Thank you.

RichardS
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1 Answers1

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To accomplish this, find the ratio of the two target percentages, i.e. 25% for X and 75% for Y. 75 / 25 gives a multiplication factor of 3. Then multiply or divide the new value of the changed variable, depending on whether it is proportionally higher (always Y) or lower (always X) than the value of the unchanged variable.

Example #1: Y increases to 50, so we divide by 3 to get the new value for the variable that hasn't changed, i.e. X=16.667. Dividing by the new grand total of 66.667 = 25%

Example #2: Y decreases to 10, so we divide by 3 to get the new value for the variable that hasn't changed, i.e. X=3.3333. Dividing by the new grand total of 13.333 = 25%

Example #3: X increases to 10, so we multiply by to get the new value for the variable that hasn't changed, i.e. Y=30. Dividing X=10 by the new grand total of 40 = 25%.

I hope that helps.

SQLServerSteve
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