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Rate# Function Details
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Rate# (nper#, pmt#, pv#, fv#, type%, guess#, status%)
Usage Notes
■ The argument nper# is the total number of payment periods in an annuity.
For example, if you get a four-year car loan and make monthly payments,
your loan has a total number of 4x12, or 48 payment periods.
■ The pmt# is the payment made each period, and cannot change over the
life of the annuity. Typically, pmt# contains principal and interest.
■ The argument pv# is the present value, or lump sum that a series of
payments to be paid in the future is worth now. For example, when you
borrow money to buy a car, the loan amount is the present value to the
lender of the monthly car payments you will make.
■ The argument fv# is the future value, or cash balance sometime in the
future after the final payment is made. The future value of a loan, for
example, is 0. As another example, if you think you will need $50,000 in
18 years to pay for your child's education, then $50,000 is the future
value.
■ The argument guess# is a number you guess for what Rate# will be.
■ Rate# is calculated by iteration. Starting with the value of guess#,
Rate# cycles through the calculation until the result is accurate within
00001%. If after 20 tries it can't find a result that works, Rate#
returns a status of 1.
■ In most cases you can assume the argument guess# to be 0.1 (10%).
However, if Rate# returns a status of 1 (failure), or if the result is
not close to what you expected, try different values of guess#.
■ The argument status% can be any variable that returns information about
the success or failure of the calculation. The value of status% will be
0 if the calculation was successful, and 1 if it was not.
■ An annuity is a series of constant cash payments made over a continuous
period of time. An annuity can be a loan (such as a home mortgage), or
an investment (such as a monthly savings plan).
■ For all arguments, cash you pay out, such as deposits to savings, is
represented by negative numbers; cash you receive, such as dividend
checks, is represented by positive numbers.