Notebooks · posts/doubling-time-fixed-for-tiny-and-negative-rates

Doubling time, fixed for tiny and negative rates

Adam Zettel · September 24, 2026 · written with an agent

A fix for the four problems the review of "Doubling time" found. The review's four failing tests pass here, and so do the eight tests the program already had. The logarithm of $1 + r$ is computed without the rounding that lost the small rates, and a rate that is not positive gets an infinite doubling time.

ln (1 + x) = \frac{x ln u}{u - 1}, u = fl (1 + x)

The site runs the review's four tests on the reviewed program, where they fail, and on this one, where they pass; that check is what lets this post call itself a fix.

The fix makes two changes. First, ln_one_plus computes $ln (1 + x)$ for small $x$ without losing it to rounding. It forms $u = 1 + x$ as the machine rounds it and returns $x ln u / (u - 1)$ : the rounding error in $u$ appears in both $ln u$ and $u - 1$ and cancels in the ratio. When $u$ rounds to exactly 1 the answer is $x$ itself. Viv has no built-in log1p, so the program uses this standard substitute.

Second, a rate that is zero or negative never doubles the money, so the doubling time is infinite, and the function returns infinity instead of a negative number of years.

Look inside this program

Atlas
The program’s map: every function and which calls which.
There’s no recorded run of this program yet.

Shift+Enter in a cell runs it and moves to the next. Running a cell runs every cell above it too, as one program.

[1]lines 25–122

RATE = 0.07

#| $\ln(1 + x)$, accurate for small $x$: $x \ln u / (u - 1)$ with $u = 1 + x$ as rounded.
def ln_one_plus(x) {
    u = 1.0 + x
    if u == 1.0 {
        return x
    }
    return log(u) * x / (u - 1.0)
}

#| Years to double at a yearly rate, with interest added once a year.
def doubling_time(rate) {
    "How many years until the amount is twice what it started as; infinite if it never is."
    if rate <= 0.0 {
        return 1.0 / 0.0
    }
    return log(2.0) / ln_one_plus(rate)
}
#| The rule of 70: divide 70 by the rate written as a percentage.
def rule_of_70(rate) {
    return 70.0 / (100.0 * rate)
}
#| Years to double when the yearly rate is split into `times` smaller additions.
def doubling_time_n(rate, times) {
    "Each addition is rate/times; there are `times` of them a year."
    return log(2.0) / (times * ln_one_plus(rate / times))
}

# the answers the notes quote
t_double = doubling_time(RATE)
show t_double
show rule_of_70(RATE)
t_monthly = doubling_time_n(RATE, 12.0)
show t_monthly
t_continuous = log(2.0) / RATE
show t_continuous

# the picture: growth that compounds, against growth that does not
# a point every quarter year for twenty years
N_TIMES = 81
ts = linspace(0.0, 20.0, N_TIMES)
figure("Growth at 7% a year, compounding and not", "years", "amount, starting from 1")
plot(ts, exp(log(1.0 + RATE) * ts), "$1.07^t$")
plot(ts, 1.0 + RATE * ts, "1 + 0.07 t")

test "at 7% a year the doubling time is 10.24 years" {
    assert_near(t_double, 10.2448, 1.0e-3)
}
test "after that long the amount is exactly 2" {
    assert_near(pow(1.0 + RATE, t_double), 2.0, 1.0e-12)
}
test "the rule of 70 is 2.4% off at 7% and 0.5% off at 3%" {
    # how far the rule of 70 is from the exact time, as a fraction of it
    rule70_off_7 = abs(rule_of_70(0.07) - doubling_time(0.07)) / doubling_time(0.07)
    rule70_off_3 = abs(rule_of_70(0.03) - doubling_time(0.03)) / doubling_time(0.03)
    assert_near(rule70_off_7, 0.024, 0.0005)
    assert_near(rule70_off_3, 0.005, 0.0005)
}
test "the base of the logarithm does not matter: base 10 gives the same time" {
    log10_2 = log(2.0) / log(10.0)
    log10_r = log(1.0 + RATE) / log(10.0)
    assert_near(log10_2 / log10_r, t_double, 1.0e-12)
}
test "compounded once a year, the n-times formula gives the yearly doubling time to 1e-12" {
    assert_near(doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0), t_double, 1.0e-12)
}
test "compounded monthly at 7%, the money doubles in 9.931 years" {
    assert_near(t_monthly, 9.93096, 1.0e-4)
    assert_near(pow(1.0 + RATE / 12.0, 12.0 * t_monthly), 2.0, 1.0e-12)
}
test "more additions a year double it sooner, but never sooner than ln 2 / r" {
    assert_lt(doubling_time_n(RATE, 4.0), doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0))
    assert_lt(doubling_time_n(RATE, 12.0), doubling_time_n(RATE, 4.0))
    assert_lt(doubling_time_n(RATE, 365.0), doubling_time_n(RATE, 12.0))
    assert_lt(t_continuous, doubling_time_n(RATE, 365.0))
}
test "ten thousand additions a year is ln 2 / r plus r/(2n) of it, the next term of the series" {
    excess = doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0e4) / t_continuous - 1.0
    assert_near(excess, RATE / 2.0e4, 1.0e-9)
}

test "at a rate of one part in a trillion a year, the doubling time is ln 2 / r to one part in a billion" {
    assert_near(doubling_time(1.0e-12) * 1.0e-12 / log(2.0), 1.0, 1.0e-9)
}
test "at a rate of 1e-16 a year the doubling time is finite, 6.9e15 years" {
    assert_near(doubling_time(1.0e-16) * 1.0e-16 / log(2.0), 1.0, 1.0e-9)
    assert_near(doubling_time(1.0e-16), 6.9e15, 0.05e15)
}
test "money shrinking 5% a year never doubles: the doubling time is infinite" {
    assert_gt(doubling_time(-0.05), 1.0e300)
}
test "a billion additions a year double it in ln 2 / r, to one part in a billion" {
    assert_near(doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0e9) / t_continuous, 1.0, 1.0e-9)
}

# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT OR Apache-2.0
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 The Viv authors

RATE = 0.07

#| $\ln(1 + x)$, accurate for small $x$: $x \ln u / (u - 1)$ with $u = 1 + x$ as rounded.
def ln_one_plus(x) {
    u = 1.0 + x
    if u == 1.0 {
        return x
    }
    return log(u) * x / (u - 1.0)
}

#| Years to double at a yearly rate, with interest added once a year.
def doubling_time(rate) {
    "How many years until the amount is twice what it started as; infinite if it never is."
    if rate <= 0.0 {
        return 1.0 / 0.0
    }
    return log(2.0) / ln_one_plus(rate)
}
#| The rule of 70: divide 70 by the rate written as a percentage.
def rule_of_70(rate) {
    return 70.0 / (100.0 * rate)
}
#| Years to double when the yearly rate is split into `times` smaller additions.
def doubling_time_n(rate, times) {
    "Each addition is rate/times; there are `times` of them a year."
    return log(2.0) / (times * ln_one_plus(rate / times))
}

# the answers the notes quote
t_double = doubling_time(RATE)
show t_double
show rule_of_70(RATE)
t_monthly = doubling_time_n(RATE, 12.0)
show t_monthly
t_continuous = log(2.0) / RATE
show t_continuous

# the picture: growth that compounds, against growth that does not
# a point every quarter year for twenty years
N_TIMES = 81
ts = linspace(0.0, 20.0, N_TIMES)
figure("Growth at 7% a year, compounding and not", "years", "amount, starting from 1")
plot(ts, exp(log(1.0 + RATE) * ts), "$1.07^t$")
plot(ts, 1.0 + RATE * ts, "1 + 0.07 t")

test "at 7% a year the doubling time is 10.24 years" {
    assert_near(t_double, 10.2448, 1.0e-3)
}
test "after that long the amount is exactly 2" {
    assert_near(pow(1.0 + RATE, t_double), 2.0, 1.0e-12)
}
test "the rule of 70 is 2.4% off at 7% and 0.5% off at 3%" {
    # how far the rule of 70 is from the exact time, as a fraction of it
    rule70_off_7 = abs(rule_of_70(0.07) - doubling_time(0.07)) / doubling_time(0.07)
    rule70_off_3 = abs(rule_of_70(0.03) - doubling_time(0.03)) / doubling_time(0.03)
    assert_near(rule70_off_7, 0.024, 0.0005)
    assert_near(rule70_off_3, 0.005, 0.0005)
}
test "the base of the logarithm does not matter: base 10 gives the same time" {
    log10_2 = log(2.0) / log(10.0)
    log10_r = log(1.0 + RATE) / log(10.0)
    assert_near(log10_2 / log10_r, t_double, 1.0e-12)
}
test "compounded once a year, the n-times formula gives the yearly doubling time to 1e-12" {
    assert_near(doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0), t_double, 1.0e-12)
}
test "compounded monthly at 7%, the money doubles in 9.931 years" {
    assert_near(t_monthly, 9.93096, 1.0e-4)
    assert_near(pow(1.0 + RATE / 12.0, 12.0 * t_monthly), 2.0, 1.0e-12)
}
test "more additions a year double it sooner, but never sooner than ln 2 / r" {
    assert_lt(doubling_time_n(RATE, 4.0), doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0))
    assert_lt(doubling_time_n(RATE, 12.0), doubling_time_n(RATE, 4.0))
    assert_lt(doubling_time_n(RATE, 365.0), doubling_time_n(RATE, 12.0))
    assert_lt(t_continuous, doubling_time_n(RATE, 365.0))
}
test "ten thousand additions a year is ln 2 / r plus r/(2n) of it, the next term of the series" {
    excess = doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0e4) / t_continuous - 1.0
    assert_near(excess, RATE / 2.0e4, 1.0e-9)
}

test "at a rate of one part in a trillion a year, the doubling time is ln 2 / r to one part in a billion" {
    assert_near(doubling_time(1.0e-12) * 1.0e-12 / log(2.0), 1.0, 1.0e-9)
}
test "at a rate of 1e-16 a year the doubling time is finite, 6.9e15 years" {
    assert_near(doubling_time(1.0e-16) * 1.0e-16 / log(2.0), 1.0, 1.0e-9)
    assert_near(doubling_time(1.0e-16), 6.9e15, 0.05e15)
}
test "money shrinking 5% a year never doubles: the doubling time is infinite" {
    assert_gt(doubling_time(-0.05), 1.0e300)
}
test "a billion additions a year double it in ln 2 / r, to one part in a billion" {
    assert_near(doubling_time_n(RATE, 1.0e9) / t_continuous, 1.0, 1.0e-9)
}

# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT OR Apache-2.0
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 The Viv authors