Entering Rates in Excel

In Excel, we often see rates that are formatted using the percent (%) format rounded to 2 decimal places.

For example, on the spreadsheet you will see:

Periodic rate of interest, or rate

3.70%

Although the number is displayed as a percent, when entering values, you must use the decimal equivalent. For the example above, that means 0.037.

If a calculation has been done such as:

the result might be rounded to two decimal places in the cell, but Excel keeps the entire number in the cell.  If you use that rate () in another formula/function, Excel will use the full decimal equivalent.