Absolute change refers to the simple difference in the indicator over two periods in time, i.e.
[tex]\text{Absolute change}=\text{Value in Period 1}-\text{Value in Period 2}.[/tex]
Relative change refers to the absolute change as a percentage of the value of the indicator in the earlier period, i.e.
[tex]\text{Relative change}=\dfrac{\text{Absolute change}}{\text{Value in Period 1}}\cdot 100\%.[/tex]
Now,
Value in Period 1 = 651,829
Value in Period 2 = 620,666.
Then
[tex]\text{Absolute change}=651,829-620,666=31,163.[/tex]
[tex]\text{Relative change}=\dfrac{31,163}{651,829}\cdot 100\%\approx 4.78\%.[/tex]
The ratio between the difference in amounts of passengers to the amount of passengers in November of 1996 is 4.78%.
