PHP has a exponent function, called pow - used in the form of pow(x, y) - this results in the mathematical equivalent to x^y Therefore, 0.4074% could be achieved by the following, resulting in $result1 $result1 = pow(1 + 0.05, 1/12); Code (markup): The second equation is just a longer version of the first; the pow(x, y) will still be used. Post what you have so far, in terms of variable names etc, and I'll finish it..