this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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I could never remember the formula to calculate compound interest.
But I had no trouble writing a for loop.
K•(1+r)^n
I would just rebuild something in my head like this every time.
While i < n; k=k+(k*r); i++;
You'd think I could remember k(1+r)^n but when you posted, it looked as alien as it felt decades ago.
The use of for makes sense.
k=0; for (i=0; i<n; i++) k=k+f(i);is the same ask=\sum_{i=0}^{n-1} f(i)and
k=1; for (i=0; i<n; i++) k=k*f(i);is the same ask=\prod_{i=0}^{n-1} f(i)In our case,
f(i)=1+randk=1; for (i=0; i<n; i++) k*(1+r);is the same ask=\prod_{i=0}^{n-1} (1+r) = (1+r)^nAll of that just to say that exponentiation is an iteration of multiplication, the same way that multiplication is an iteration of addition
What always annoyed me was having to draw charts by hand. Just let me put the data in a computer for god's sake, the rest of the working is there... I did actually write a python function for one of my assignments which was fine, but they told me not to do it for the exam.