Stop using e for compound interest
Published on: 2025-05-01 09:07:41
Stop using e for compound interest
In a typical math class, e is introduced like this:
Imagine a bank account with 100% yearly interest. This means that anything you deposit will be doubled a year later.
The bank decides to compound interest twice yearly, instead of once per year. Then, every 6 months, your deposit will increase by 50%, letting you leave with 2.25 x the amount you put in.
the amount you put in. The bank now decides to compound interest daily, meaning that your deposit will increase by 100 365 % 365 times. After a year, you can leave with approximately 2.714 x .
365 times. After a year, you can leave with approximately . Finally, the bank compounds interest continuously, letting you leave with exactly e times the amount you put in after a year.
This makes sense mathematically, and in class, e = lim n → ∞ ( 1 + 1 n ) n .
But here's the problem: why is compound interest divided linearly even though the growth is exponential? If a bank account has 100% yearly inte
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