The payback period is the amount of time needed to recover the initial outlay for an investment. Learn how to calculate it with Microsoft Excel.

You can prorate in Excel 2010 by entering the dollar amount, total number of sub-periods, number of sub-periods to reduce by and the proration formula in the spreadsheet.

This is where the number-crunching fun starts. Learn the ins and outs of the logical formulas that represent the heart of Excel.