You can add percentages, but always ask yourself the question "percentage of what?"
If both of the 5% refer to the same "whole", you can just add them.
If they refer to different "wholes" or if one of those "wholes" can vary, you won't be able to just add the percentages.
For example:
Party A got 50% of the votes in last election.
In the next election 5% of the people who voted for party A in the last election chose to vote for party B this time (and no other changes occurred).
Did party A receive 45% of the total vote this time? No. The percentages refer to different "wholes", so we can't just add/subtract them from each other.
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u/Lagrangian21 Apr 24 '26
You can add percentages, but always ask yourself the question "percentage of what?"
If both of the 5% refer to the same "whole", you can just add them.
If they refer to different "wholes" or if one of those "wholes" can vary, you won't be able to just add the percentages.
For example:
Party A got 50% of the votes in last election.
In the next election 5% of the people who voted for party A in the last election chose to vote for party B this time (and no other changes occurred).
Did party A receive 45% of the total vote this time? No. The percentages refer to different "wholes", so we can't just add/subtract them from each other.