Unit Price (Price per Unit Quantity)

Also known as price per unit · which size is cheaper · cost per litre

p=Cmp = \frac{C}{m}
$

Worked example: $12.50 for 2.5 kg → $5.00/kg — press Try an example to run it live, then adjust anything.

Enter your known values, leave one input blank, and solves for the missing one. Tap a variable’s symbol to see what it means, with a typical value. Try different units for next level excitement!

Here the solver did the work — could you?

The better buy →

Grade 10Grade 10 Math

Test your skills in the Exam Room: new numbers every attempt — free lessons for students, no sign-up, just pure learning. Find 4 more lessons on this formula.

See your Report Card
Compete with your friends
share your results
Learning zone

Unit Price (Price per Unit Quantity) explained

mCp

The only arithmetic that makes two packages comparable: divide the price by the quantity and compare the results. Supermarkets in many jurisdictions are required to print it on the shelf tag precisely because shoppers otherwise cannot do it in their heads, and the required unit is often chosen to be awkward for exactly one of the two products.

The folk rule that the bigger box is cheaper per unit is true often enough to be dangerous. Studies of shelf pricing routinely find a quantity surcharge on the largest size in a fifth or more of product lines, usually where the large size is the one on promotion elsewhere or the one shoppers assume they need not check. The other trap is comparing across different measures: price per kilogram of a drained weight against price per kilogram of a net weight is not a comparison at all, and the same goes for concentrated versus ready-to-use.

Unit Price (Price per Unit Quantity) formula

p=Cmp = \frac{C}{m}
Where
  • pp= Unit price ($/kg)
  • CC= Total price ($)
  • mm= Quantity (kg)