1. General Topics Home
2. Introduction
   1. Getting Started
   2. Using The Help File
   3. Top Dozen Functions
   4. Golden Rules
   5. Excel 2007
3. Menu Options
   1. Go To
   2. Function Selector
   3. CalculateFull
   4. Calculate WorkSheet
   5. Trace Facility
   6. Quick Paste Example
   7. Tutorials
   8. Function Finder
   9. Examples
   10. Help
   11. Excel"s Function Wizard
   12. Access Internet
   13. Usage of Functions (Audit)
   14. Uninstall
4. Business Functions Date Arithmetic
   1. Time Periods
   2. Inclusive and Exclusive Dates
   3. Using Daycount
   4. Examples of DayCount
   5. Annual Date Sequences
   6. ProjMode and Inclusive Dates
   7. Date Rolling Convention
5. Techniques
   1. Rate Projections Functions Walkthrough
   2. Accruals and Cash
   3. Repeating Formulae
   4. Range Names and References
   5. Optional Parameters
   6. Using PmtsPerYear
   7. Modelling Seasonality
   8. Calculating Interest
   9. Using Business Functions in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)
   10. Array Functions
   11. Volatility
   12. Annual Equivalent Rates
   13. Array Function
   14. Auto Multi Functions
   15. Variable Plurality
   16. GoalSeek
6. Worked Examples
   1. Introduction To the Worked Examples
   2. Daycount
   3. General Projections
   4. Business Plans
   5. Cashbasis And Periods
   6. Using Timebases
   7. Using Dates
7. How to ...
   1. How To Generate a time scale for a structured financing
   2. How To Project Rents off a Rental Forecast
   3. How To Run a model on different time bases
   4. How To Isolate The Cause of a Errors in Cells using Trace
8. Utilities - Information
   1. Introduction to the Utilities
   2. Audit
   3. Synchronized Range Insert/Delete
   4. Database Edit
   5. Insert Macro Button
   6. Link Analyser
   7. Range Describer
   8. PrintScript (beta)
   9. Create Local Range Name
9. Utilities - Formatting
   1. Number Formats
   2. Apply BF"s Color Palette
   3. Bullets
   4. Color Cells
   5. Conditional Formats
10. Utilities - Validating
    1. Validation DropDowms
    2. Validation Standards
11. Utilities - Operations
    1. Select Excel Function
    2. Array Function Tools
    3. Sort Sheets
    4. Range Value
    5. Named Range Manager
    6. Enforce WorkBook Settings
    7. Monte-Carlo
    8. TimeChart
12. Customising Business Functions
    1. The ".ini" file
13. Resources On The Web
    1. Forum
    2. Online Help
    3. Templates
14. Appendix 1
    1. Conversion of Input Strings to Values
    2. List of Holidays
    3. Acknowledgements and Trademarks
    4. Published Editions Changes in Behaviour
    5. Range Handling And Constraints
    6. Dates in Excel and Business Functions
    7. Old Composite DayCount Format
    8. DayCount in Excels"s Functions
15. Appendix 2 Key Formulae
    1. NPV of Annual To Periodic CashFlows - CorrectionM
    2. Interest - Simple, Annual, Continous and Discount Factors
16. Appendix 3 New and Retired Functions
    1. New Functions
    2. Obsolete Functions
    3. Discontinued Functions
    4. Deprecated Functions

Interest - Simple, Annual, Continous and Discount Factors

• A discount factor is equal to NPV (today)/Nominal Value (in the future). It is the factor by which you multiply the future cash flow in order to arrive at the Net Present Value.
  
• The Continuous Discount Rate is the rate you get if you assume compounding takes place continually. It"s easiest to think of (although its not technically true) as the daily compounding rate. In other words, if you wonder what daily compounded rate would be equivalent to a certain end result, then that"s the continually compounded rate.
  
• An Annual Equivalent Rate is the equivalent interest rate if interest were charged annually in arrears and compounded. It turns out that all interest rates have a period associated with them. (See Annual Equivalent Rates)
  
• A Simple Interest Rate is any interest rate that is applied "simply" to a time period. An AER is equal to a simple interest rate charged over 1 year. In our terminology a simple interest rate always has a period or payments per year associated with it. So you can say "a rate of x% simple interest charged quarterly is equivalent to an AER of y% which is also equivalent to a daily, or continuous rate, of z%".

To convert AER to Continuous:

This formula is used in the function AERToCont.

This formula is used in the function ContToAER.

This formula is used in the function AERToDF.

This formula is used in the function DFToAER.

This formula is used in the function ContToDF.

This formula is used in the function DFToCont.

This formula is used in the function SimpleToDF.

This formula is used in the function DFToSimple.