percentbased

Percentbased is a term used to describe data, calculations, or metrics that are expressed as a percentage of a specified base. In percentbased representations, quantities are normalized to a base of 100, enabling straightforward comparison across different scales and magnitudes. This approach contrasts with using absolute counts or raw values.

Common contexts include statistics, finance, user interfaces, and performance dashboards. Examples include share of total, yield percentages, rate of change, and completion progress shown as a percent. In statistics, percentbased figures are computed by dividing a part by the total and multiplying by 100. In finance, return on investment is often presented as a percent. In dashboards, progress bars and attainment scores are frequently percentbased to show progress toward a goal.

Advantages of percentbased representation include intuitive interpretation and easy comparability across groups. Limitations include sensitivity to the chosen base and potential misinterpretation when the base is small or changes over time. Percentbased values can be undefined when the base is zero, and may be misleading if the underlying counts are not proportional across groups.

Related concepts include percentage, proportion, ratio, and normalization. See also rate and indicator.