What these two processes share is baked into the math of each. In fact, in that respect, they're nearly identical. They both involve some stuff (atoms or money) that is either growing or shrinking.

Liliana Hall was a writer for CNET Money covering banking, credit cards and mortgages. Previously, she wrote about personal credit for Bankrate and CreditCards.com. David McMillin writes about credit ...

Daniel Jassy, CFA, is an Investopedia Academy instructor and the founder of SPYderCRusher Research. He contributes to Excel and Algorithmic Trading. Compound interest is interest that's calculated on ...

See how your savings and investment account balances can grow with the magic of compound interest. Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate ...

Compound interest is commonly described as "interest earned on interest." Compound interest can work to your advantage as your investments grow over time, but against you if you're paying off debt, ...