Successive Discounts Calculator
This successive discounts calculator shows what you really pay when two discounts are applied one after the other, as happens with a sale price plus an extra coupon at checkout. Enter the original price, the first discount and the second discount, and it instantly returns the final price, the total amount you save and the single effective discount that matches both cuts. The key insight it makes obvious is that chained discounts never simply add together: a 20% discount followed by a 10% discount is not 30% off but only 28%, because the second percentage is taken from the already reduced price rather than from the original.
Successive discounts do not add up: the second one applies to the already reduced price, so 20% and then 10% equals a 28% effective discount, not 30%. Values are shown as plain numbers, with no fixed currency.
Final price
Total savings
Effective discount
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How it works
The calculator multiplies the original price by the two discount factors in sequence: final price = original × (1 − first ÷ 100) × (1 − second ÷ 100). For a 100 price with 20% and 10%, that is 100 × 0.80 × 0.90 = 72. The total savings is the original price minus the final price, here 100 − 72 = 28. The effective discount is that saving expressed as a percentage of the original price, (saving ÷ original) × 100, which comes to 28%. Because each factor is below one, the combined effect is always smaller than the sum of the two percentages. Every result updates automatically as you type.
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Preguntas frecuentes
- Why is 20% then 10% not a 30% discount?
- Because the second discount is calculated on the already reduced price, not on the original. After a 20% discount a 100 item costs 80, and the 10% is taken from 80, removing only 8 more. The total off is 28, which is a 28% effective discount, not the 30% you would get by naively adding the two percentages.
- How do I calculate two successive discounts?
- Multiply the original price by both discount factors: original × (1 − first ÷ 100) × (1 − second ÷ 100). For 100 with 20% and 10% that is 100 × 0.80 × 0.90 = 72. This calculator does it automatically and also shows the total savings and the single effective discount.
- What is the effective discount?
- The effective discount is the single percentage that produces the same final price as the two chained discounts combined. It equals the total savings divided by the original price, times 100. For 20% and 10% on any price the effective discount is always 28%.
- Does the order of the two discounts matter?
- No. Multiplication is commutative, so applying 20% then 10% gives exactly the same final price as 10% then 20%. In both cases the price is multiplied by 0.80 and 0.90, ending at 72% of the original. The savings and effective discount are identical either way.
- Is a single 30% discount better than 20% plus 10%?
- Yes. A single 30% discount leaves you paying 70% of the price, while 20% followed by 10% leaves you paying 72%. So a flat 30% is the better deal. Two stacked discounts always come out to less than the sum of their percentages.