One lump sum between two dates
Choose future value to move a present amount forward, or present value to move a future amount backward. This calculator handles one lump sum only. It excludes payment streams, cash-flow schedules, taxes, product-specific day counts, and rate-selection advice.
Source-backed formulas
For a nominal annual rate r, n finite compounding periods per year, and term t years:
Present value is the transparent algebraic rearrangement:
For a continuously compounded annual rate:
Publisher conventions and example
The finite frequency choices are 1, 2, 4, 12, 52, and 365 periods per year. Weekly 52 and daily 365 are calculator conventions, not universal product day-count standards. Algebraic rearrangement, value-change subtraction, and display rounding are transparent publisher arithmetic.
The default 5% rate, 10-year term, and 10,000 present value are illustrative, not recommended or representative. With monthly compounding:
The future value is $16,470.09 after rounding. With continuous compounding, exp(0.5)=1.6487212707, producing $16,487.21. At a zero-year term, every valid mode has a factor of 1.
Limits
The annual rate is nominal for finite frequencies and continuously compounded in continuous mode. Nominal and real bases must be consistent, but this calculator does not choose a basis or an appropriate rate. The result includes no periodic cash flows, forecast, advice, or product-compatibility claim.
Sources
- OpenStax, Principles of Finance, 7.2 Time Value of Money Basics (2022) — “The Impact of Compounding,” the displayed future-value formula, and “Calculating Future Values” support the lump-sum periodic relationship.
- OpenStax, Principles of Finance, 7.4 Applications of TVM in Finance (2022) — “Nominal versus Real Interest Rates” and “Compounding Interest” support basis consistency and conversion from an annual nominal rate to a periodic rate.
- OpenStax, Calculus Volume 1, 6.8 Exponential Growth and Decay (2016) — the compound-interest application and continuous-compounding limit support the factor
exp(rt).