Peter Alfeld, --- Department of Mathematics, --- College of Science --- University of Utah

A Financial Calculator

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The applet on this page let's you bring up a financial calculator that you can use to compute your loan payments, examine the evolution of your savings, or plan your retirement.

The calculator let's you explore the connections between 5 financial parameters:

n: the number of payments. These are usually monthly, but could be any other time interval.
The interest (p) in percent, paid per payment. Thus if you make monthly payments at an annual interest rate of 12% p will equal 1%.
The Principal Value, (PV). The amount of money you borrow. Thus if PV is positive you take out a loan, if PV is negative, you put money into your account to start things off.
Your regular payment, (pmt). Financial calculators usually require that a payment you make is negative, but to me a negative "payment" should mean you get money. Thus pmt is positive when you pay off a loan, and it's negative when you draw money out of an account.
The Future Value, (FV), of your investment. It is zero if you simply pay off a loan, positive if you save a certain amount of money, and negative if you are planning to pay off or refinance a balloon payment at the end of your payment.

Examples

The menu below let's you look at several detailed examples showing the calculator, a plot of the payment plan, and a detailed table of payments.

User's Guide

The image nearby shows what you should see on your screen after clicking on the applet.

You need to specify the contents of four of the blue textfields and then click on the button labeled compute next to the fifth. The Calculator will compute the value of the fifth parameter and display it in the corresponding text window. You can also print or plot a payment plan.

Following is an explanation of the individual items on the Calculator:

Textfields The central ingredients of the Calculator are the blue textfields. They let you enter Data and they display data. To enter or modify data highlight the region ion the textfield you want to change and type in the replacement. To make the program take note of your change it is essential that you press the Enter or Return key.
Compute Buttons For all financial parameters these cause the calculator to compute the parameter in the same row so as to be consistent with the other four parameters.
Increment Buttons These green Buttons let you use shortcuts to change the entries of the textfields. Their precise effects are explained below. You don't need to type Enter in the textfield after using one of the increment buttons.
Red Buttons These have specialized effects explained below.

Let's now go through the rows and explain the features of each.

Row 1. The run # is incremented by 1 every time the Calculator is used.
Row 2.
- Quit Clicking on this button causes the Calculator to disappear. If you called it from the applet on this page you can make it reappear by clicking on the applet. If you are using it in stand alone mode you need to restart it.
- Plot This causes a very rudimentary plot to be drawn that is explained in Example 1.
- Print This causes a listing of the payment plan. You can see it ion the Java Console or in the window from which you started the Calculator. Depending on your particular computing set up this listing can be captured and put into a file.
- Update This button causes the contents of all textfields to be set equal to the internal values kept by the calculator at that time. Actually the textfields should be up-to date all the time and so should need that button. But it's there so you can reassure yourself if you have any doubts.
- Status Label Next to the buttons in this row there is a label telling you the current status of the calculator:
Row 3, n, the number of payments. Small increments change that number by 1, large increments by 12. (Think of 12 monthly payments being one yearly payment.) The Button labeled x12 lets you enter the duration of the loan as a number of years followed by converting that number to the number of months.
Row 4, interest. This is the interest rate in percent per payment. Small increments change the interest rate by 0.1, large ones by 1. The button labeled /12 lets you enter an annual interest rate and convert it to the monthly interest rate.
Row 5, Principal Value. A positive value indicates you have money to spend, a negative value means someone made an initial payment into your account. Small increments change the value by $1, large ones by $1000. The Round Button rounds the Principal Value to the next higher multiple of $1,000.
Row 6, Payment. A positive value indicates you pay money, a negative one you receive money. Small increments change the payment by $1.0, large ones by $10. The Round button rounds the payment to next highest dollar.
Row 7, Future Value. A positive value indicates you have money available after making payments, a negative value means you still own money. Small increments change the value by $1, large ones by $1000. The Zero Button sets the Future Value to zero.

The Mathematics

Since this is a mathematic page I'll have to tell you what's happening inside the Calculator.

(1)

Then it is a simple exercise to verify that the key equation linking our five parameters is

(2)

This equation can be solved explicitly for four of the five parameters:

(3)

To solve (2) for p a simple numerical technique (bisection) is used.

Downloading and Running Standalone

You can download this code and run it without a browser. You need two files

Download the files and invoke Loan.class like you would any Java code. For example, on a Unix system you type java Loan

Last change: [13-Mar-1999]