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, i 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:

    \[ i=\frac{j}{m} \]

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 (i) in another formula/function, Excel will use the full decimal equivalent.

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Using Excel in Business Math Copyright © by Lisa Koster is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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