# RATE

The RATE function returns the interest rate per period of a loan or an investment.

### Syntax

RATE (Nper, PMT, PV?, FV?, Type?, Guess?) - > Number 

### Arguments

<table><thead><tr><th width="135">Arguments</th><th width="154">Datatype</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Nper</td><td>Number</td><td>The total number of periods.</td></tr><tr><td>PMT</td><td>Number/ Node reference </td><td>The payment made each period.</td></tr><tr><td>PV?</td><td>Number/ Node reference</td><td>The total amount that a series of future payments is worth now.</td></tr><tr><td>FV?</td><td>Number/ Node reference</td><td>The future value or a cash balance you want to attain after the last payment is made. This is an optional argument.</td></tr><tr><td>Type?</td><td>Number</td><td>Indicates when the payments are made. Type is zero if payments are made at the end of the period and non-zero if payments are made at the start of the period.</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Guess?</td><td>Number</td><td>Estimate of what the rate will be. This is an optional argument.</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Example

Consider a series of $2000 payments made at the end of each month for 1 year. The objective is to calculate the interest rate per month where the present value is $20,000.

<table><thead><tr><th width="116">Periods</th><th width="84" align="right">0</th><th width="72" align="right">1</th><th width="64" align="right">2</th><th width="64" align="right">3</th><th width="64" align="right">4</th><th width="64" align="right">5</th><th width="64" align="right">6</th><th width="64" align="right">7</th><th width="64" align="right">8</th><th width="64" align="right">9</th><th width="64" align="right">10</th><th width="64" align="right">11</th><th width="64" align="right">12</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><mark style="color:purple;">Present Value</mark></td><td align="right">-20000</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">-</td></tr><tr><td><mark style="color:green;">Payments made</mark></td><td align="right">-</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td><td align="right">2000</td></tr></tbody></table>

To calculate the Interest Rate, the formula should be:

<mark style="color:blue;">**`RATE`**</mark>**`(12,`**<mark style="color:green;">**`[Payments made]`**</mark>**`,`**<mark style="color:purple;">**`[Present Value]`**</mark>**`,0)`**

### Result

The interest rate is calculated to be 2.92%