How to calculate the break-even point
✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3How many units you must sell before profit turns positive.
The formula
| App | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excel | =A2/(B2-C2) | A2=fixed costs, B2=price per unit, C2=variable cost per unit. Wrap in ROUNDUP(...,0) — you can't sell part of a unit. |
| Google Sheets | =A2/(B2-C2) | Identical. |
| LibreOffice Calc | =A2/(B2-C2) | Identical. |
How it works
Each unit contributes price minus variable cost toward fixed costs ($25 − $15 = $10 here), so covering $10,000 of fixed costs takes 1,000 units. Break-even REVENUE is that times price ($25,000), and the same formula with a target profit added to fixed costs — (A2+target)/(B2-C2) — answers "units to earn $X". If the result is negative, price is below variable cost and no volume can save it.
Verified, not just documented
We ran =A2/(B2-C2) in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned 1000 — exactly the expected result. Every formula here is confirmed by actually executing it.