I'm trying to calculate compound interest, and I'd like to be able to do it without creating a new cell for each iteration. Is there a way to take the answer of a formula and plug it right back in for a set number of times?
Anna M
Favorite Answer
I don't know how you can do recursion within a particular cell in Excel. However, there is a formula that you can use to calculate compound interest:
=PV * (1 + R)^N
Where PV is the beginning (present) value on which the interest will be paid, R is the interest rate per period (as a decimal, like 0.02 for 2%), and N is the number of periods. So if you have the beginning value in cell A1, the interest rate in cell B1, and the number of periods in cell C1, your formula would be:
=A1 * (1 + B1)^C1
If you only want to see the actual interest earned (not the total ending value at the end of the timeframe), you would then subtract the PV:
=(A1 * (1 + B1)^C1) - A1
I hope that helps!
Anonymous
never heard of recursion within a single cell
most likely need to use Visual Basic