|   PREVIOUS EXAMPLE   |   INDEX OF EXAMPLES   |   NEXT EXAMPLE   |

Example 2: Calculating a discount factor

1. Load the package DiscountingTools.m by going through the steps given in example 1.
2. Click on the Mathematica Function Wizard icon  inside Excel (if you need help on this topic please refer to section 3.2 in the Mathematica Link for Excel User's Guide).
3. In step 1 of the Mathematica Function Wizard window 
   choose the search method Contains, and write e.g. "Discount" in the text box below. Click on the Search button, and select the DiscountFactor function. Note: The usage information may only contain a subset of the usage information actually available. Please refer to the Derivatives Expert documentation within Mathematica for more usage information.
4. In step 2 of the Mathematica Function Wizard window 
   select the first prototype of the function (the non-calendar time version), and click on the More... button to be able to view the available options.
5. Enter 3 (years) as the theta, 8.5 (percent) as the tsfunction (flat interest rate curve), and Compounding -> {Exponential, 12} for monthly exponential compounding of interest. Then click on Enter.
6. You should now get the following result in a cell in Excel.
   Instead of using the function wizard you could also just have entered the function directly using the Math function (if you need help on this topic please refer to section 3.5 in the Mathematica Link for Excel User's Guide).
   Note: If you use the European notation within Excel then you may have semi-colons instead of commas as the separation characters.