Calculate Your Printing Costs - (or pdf version)

Use this calculator to find the price for any number of pages. Do one book at a time, or many.

Calculate Paper Price - Use as "d" in the formula below.                                         
            Cost of the paper you bought ÷ number of sheets you bought = Price per sheet

Calculate Toner Price - Use as " f " in the formula below.                                         
      (Toner/drum replacements should say how many pages they print. A page means one side of a page filled with text at 5% coverage. A toner coverage meter shows an average of 10% coverage for RC and wordprocessor books, so we multiply toner cost by 2 in this formula.)

            Cost of toner cartridge ÷ number of pages it will print × 2
          +Cost of drum unit (if separate) ÷ number of pages it will print
            Total toner price per page (1 side).

Start Figuring
a = # of pages in book                                         

b = # of pages per sheet you will print                                         
             Full size = 2 (because you print one on each side, and there are two sides)
             Half size = 4 (because you print two on each side, and there are two sides)

c = # of sheets of paper you will use for this book [a ÷ b = c]                                         

d = cost per sheet of paper [figured above]                                         

e = total price of paper for this book [c × d = e]                                         

f = cost of toner per (1 side of) page [figured above]                                         

g = total price of toner for this book [2 × c × f = g]                                         

h = total price to print this book [e + g = h]                                         


QUICK CALCULATING
         This method will bring you to the same answer as "h" above, but in fewer steps. First use the formula above to calculate your price to print one page. (Save your answer for future use.) Once you've done that you can always use this simpler method. (I use this often, to see if it costs less to buy or to print a book.)

P = # of pages to print                                         

Q = price to print 1 page (same as "h" above, when calculated for 1 page)                                         

R = total price to print this book [p × q]                                         


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