Educational business arithmetic
Margin, markup and pricing worksheets
Calculators and guides for the arithmetic of a single sale: gross profit, gross margin, markup, the price that hits a target margin, and what a discount really costs. Every formula is shown and every example is labeled as illustrative.
Open the margin and markup calculator →Start with the question you have
Margin and markup calculator
Price and cost in; gross profit, gross margin and markup out, without mixing up denominators.
Open the tool → CALCULATORPrice from target margin
Cost and a target margin in; the selling price, gross profit and equivalent markup out, with an optional fee rate.
Open the tool → GUIDEMargin vs markup
Why 40% markup is not 40% margin, with conversion formulas and a lookup table.
Read the guide → GUIDEGross vs net margin
Gross, operating and net margin on one illustrative income statement.
Read the guide → GUIDEDiscounts and margin
How much extra volume a discount needs just to keep gross profit flat.
Read the guide → GUIDEPrice and cost sensitivity
Build a grid that shows how margin moves when price and cost change together.
Read the guide →The one distinction that matters most
Take an illustrative product that costs $60 and sells for $100. Gross profit is $40. Gross margin divides that profit by the price: $40 ÷ $100 = 40%. Markup divides it by the cost: $40 ÷ $60 ≈ 66.67%. Same sale, two different percentages.
Markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost
Price for a target margin = cost ÷ (1 − target margin)
Confusing the two is a classic pricing error: adding a 40% markup to the $60 cost gives $84, which is only a 28.57% margin. The margin vs markup guide shows how to convert between them.
What this site covers, and what it does not
- Covers: per-sale pricing arithmetic: gross margin, markup, price from a target margin, discount and price-change effects, and gross vs net margin.
- Does not cover: break-even volume, contribution margin and fixed-cost coverage (see the sibling site ameticapital.com), and no investment, capital advisory, succession or M&A service of any kind.
Definitions follow standard accounting usage, with sources linked on each guide. Read how the worksheets are prepared, or browse all guides and all calculators.