The way I look at it is compounding just changes the effective interest rate. Continuous compounding is e^rt. Just subtract straight interest from this and you

The way I look at it is compounding just changes the effective interest rate. Continuous compounding is e^rt. Just subtract straight interest from this and you discover the maximum return of compounding over just collecting interest. Most compounding periods are much less than continuous. I think this would take less than an hour. ;-)