Home / Guides
The how and why behind the tools.
Plain-English explainers for the calculators and tools on Zenoply — the formulas, worked examples and the details that actually matter. Read the guide, then run the numbers.
59 guides6 topicsFree · no signup
Finance & money
2001
How Is EMI Calculated?
How is EMI calculated? Learn the EMI formula, see a worked example for a home, car and personal loan, and understand how rate and tenure change your monthly payment.
5 min readEMI Calculator
02
How to Calculate Percentage Increase
How to calculate percentage increase and decrease with a simple formula and worked examples. Learn the difference between percentage change and percentage points.
4 min readPercentage Calculator
03
Mortgage Principal vs Interest, Explained
Understand mortgage principal vs interest: how amortisation splits your monthly payment, why early payments are mostly interest, and how extra payments save you money.
4 min readMortgage Calculator
04
How Is GST Calculated?
How is GST calculated in India? Learn the GST formula to add GST to a base price, remove GST from an inclusive price, and split tax into CGST and SGST, with worked examples.
4 min readGST Calculator
05
How Does SIP Investment Work?
How does a SIP work? Understand systematic investment plans, the SIP return formula, rupee-cost averaging and the power of compounding, with a clear worked example.
4 min readSIP Calculator
06
What Is Compound Interest?
What is compound interest? Learn the formula A = P(1 + r/n)^(nt), how it differs from simple interest, a worked example, and the Rule of 72.
5 min readCompound Interest Calculator
07
How Is FD Interest Calculated?
How is FD interest calculated? Learn how Indian banks use quarterly compounding, the formula M = P(1 + r/4)^(4t), and a clear worked example.
4 min readFD Calculator
08
How Is PPF Interest Calculated?
How is PPF interest calculated? Understand the Public Provident Fund annual compounding formula, the monthly-balance rule, the 15-year tenure and tax benefits, with a worked example.
4 min readPPF Calculator
09
Old vs New Tax Regime: Which Saves More?
Old vs new tax regime for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27): compare the slab rates, the standard deduction, the 12 lakh tax-free limit and a worked example to see which regime gives you lower tax.
5 min readIncome Tax Calculator
10
How Is HRA Exemption Calculated?
How HRA exemption is calculated under Section 10(13A): the 3-way rule, metro vs non-metro limits, a worked example, and the documents you need to claim it under the old tax regime.
4 min readHRA Calculator
11
How Is In-Hand Salary Calculated From CTC?
Why your take-home pay is far below your CTC: how employer PF, gratuity, your own PF, professional tax and income tax are deducted, with a full worked example for FY 2025-26.
4 min readIn-Hand Salary Calculator
12
How Is Gratuity Calculated?
How gratuity is calculated in India under the Payment of Gratuity Act: the 15/26 formula, the 5-year eligibility rule, how part-years are rounded, the tax-free limit, and a worked example.
4 min readGratuity Calculator
13
How Is Your NPS Corpus and Pension Calculated?
How the National Pension System builds a retirement corpus from monthly contributions, why at least 40% must buy an annuity, how the monthly pension is worked out, and the tax rules - with a full worked example.
5 min readNPS Calculator
14
How Is Recurring Deposit (RD) Interest Calculated?
How Indian banks work out recurring deposit maturity with quarterly compounding, why the tenure runs in multiples of 3 months, how RD differs from an FD and an SIP, plus a full worked example and the tax rules.
5 min readRD Calculator
15
How Does a Lumpsum Investment Grow?
How a one-time lumpsum investment compounds into its maturity value, the formula behind it, how lumpsum differs from an SIP, a full worked example, and the effect of time, rate and tax on your return.
5 min readLumpsum Calculator
16
How Does a Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) Work?
How an SWP pays you a fixed amount each month while the rest of your corpus keeps growing, the month-by-month formula behind it, a full worked example, when a corpus runs dry, and how to size a withdrawal that lasts.
5 min readSWP Calculator
17
What Is CAGR and How Is It Calculated?
What compound annual growth rate (CAGR) means, the formula behind it, a full worked example, why it beats a simple average return, how it differs from total return, and where it falls short.
6 min readCAGR Calculator
18
What Is ROI and How Is It Calculated?
What return on investment (ROI) means, the simple formula behind it, a full worked example, the difference between total and annualized ROI, and the costs and blind spots the raw number leaves out.
5 min readROI Calculator
19
What Is Simple Interest and How Is It Calculated?
What simple interest means, the SI = P × R × T / 100 formula explained term by term, a full worked example, how to rearrange it to find the rate, time or principal, and how it differs from compound interest.
5 min readSimple Interest Calculator
20
How Inflation Erodes the Value of Money
What inflation is, the future-cost and purchasing-power formulas explained, a worked example over 10 and 25 years, why real returns matter more than headline returns, and how to plan around rising prices.
5 min readInflation Calculator
Text & writing
401
Word Count, Character Count and Reading Time Explained
What actually counts as a word, the difference between characters with and without spaces, how reading time is estimated, the word and character limits that matter for essays, tweets and SEO, and how many words fit on a page.
5 min readWord Counter
02
Text Case Formats Explained: UPPERCASE, Title Case, camelCase and snake_case
The six text case formats a case converter produces - UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, Sentence case, camelCase and snake_case - how each transformation works, the title-case rules it does and doesn't apply, and which case to use for headings, prose, code and file names.
5 min readCase Converter
03
What Is Lorem Ipsum? Meaning, History and When to Use It
What lorem ipsum is, where the half-Latin came from, why designers use placeholder text, how to generate exactly the amount you need, and when you should never use it.
5 min readLorem Ipsum Generator
04
What Is a URL Slug? How to Create One (and Why It Matters for SEO)
A URL slug is the readable, keyword-carrying tail of a web address, like how-to-brew-coffee. Learn what a slug is, what makes a good one, how a title becomes a clean slug, why hyphens beat underscores, and whether you should ever change a slug after publishing.
5 min readSlug Generator
Developer & encoding
801
What Is Base64 Encoding?
What is Base64 and when should you use it? Learn how Base64 encoding works, why it makes data 33% larger, why it is not encryption, and the URL-safe variant.
5 min readBase64 Encoder / Decoder
02
What Is Inside a JWT?
What is inside a JWT? Learn the three parts of a JSON Web Token - header, payload and signature - and why decoding a token is not the same as verifying it.
6 min readJWT Decoder
03
MD5 vs SHA-256: How Hashing Works
MD5 vs SHA-256 explained: how cryptographic hash functions work, why MD5 and SHA-1 are broken, when to use SHA-256, and why you should never hash passwords.
6 min readHash Generator
04
What Is JSON?
What is JSON? Learn JSON syntax and data types, the rules that make it valid, common errors like trailing commas, plus how to format or minify it.
5 min readJSON Formatter
05
What Is a UUID?
What is a UUID? Learn the 128-bit UUID format, how version 4 (random) UUIDs work, why collisions are nearly impossible, and when to use them as identifiers.
5 min readUUID Generator
06
What Is URL Encoding?
What is URL encoding? Learn how percent-encoding escapes spaces and special characters in URLs, which characters are reserved, and when to encode.
5 min readURL Encoder / Decoder
07
How to Format SQL Queries
How to format SQL queries: one clause per line, indented JOIN conditions, keyword casing and comma style - the conventions, with a full before and after.
6 min readSQL Formatter
08
Do QR Codes Expire?
Do QR codes expire? The pattern itself never does — but the redirect behind a dynamic QR code can be switched off. How to tell which kind you have, and how to make one that lasts.
6 min readQR Code Generator
Converters
701
What Is a Unix Timestamp?
What is a Unix timestamp? Learn how epoch time counts seconds from 1 January 1970 UTC, why timestamps are in UTC, seconds vs milliseconds, and the Year 2038 problem.
6 min readUnix Timestamp Converter
02
How to Convert JSON to CSV
How to convert JSON to CSV: which JSON shapes convert cleanly, how commas and quotes are escaped per RFC 4180, what happens to nested objects, and choosing a delimiter, with a worked example.
6 min readJSON to CSV
03
RGB, HEX and HSL Color Codes Explained
What HEX, RGB, HSL and CMYK color codes mean, how they relate, and when to use each. Includes a worked example converting one shade across all four formats.
6 min readColor Converter
04
How to Convert CSV to JSON
How to convert CSV to JSON: how the first row becomes object keys, which delimiter to pick, how quoted commas and line breaks are parsed per RFC 4180, and when to keep values as text — with a worked example.
5 min readCSV to JSON
05
How to Convert YAML to JSON
How to convert YAML to JSON: how mappings, sequences and indentation map onto objects and arrays, how each value is typed, why unquoted numbers change, and which YAML features aren't supported - with a worked example.
5 min readYAML to JSON
06
How to Write Numbers in Words
How to write numbers in words: how a figure breaks into groups of three, writing an amount on a cheque, the hyphen and "and" rules, when style guides say to spell a number out, and lakh/crore vs million.
6 min readNumber to Words
07
How to Convert CGPA to Percentage
How to convert CGPA to percentage: where the CBSE 9.5 multiplier comes from, why your university's number differs, how to work out CGPA from grade points and credits, and a full worked example.
6 min readCGPA to Percentage Calculator
PDF tools
1301
How to Merge PDF Files
How to merge PDF files into one online for free. Combine and reorder multiple PDFs in your browser with no upload, plus tips on splitting and compressing.
5 min readMerge PDF
02
How to Split a PDF
How to split a PDF online for free - extract single pages or page ranges into a new file in your browser with no upload. The steps, syntax, and related tools.
5 min readSplit PDF
03
How to Compress a PDF
How to compress a PDF to reduce file size for free. Learn why PDFs get large, how compression works, the quality trade-off, and when it will not help.
5 min readCompress PDF
04
How to Convert JPG to PDF
How to convert JPG to PDF online for free. Combine JPG or PNG images into one PDF, set the page order and fit, then download - all in your browser, no upload.
4 min readJPG to PDF
05
How to Convert PDF to JPG
How to convert PDF to JPG online for free: turn each PDF page into a high-quality JPG or PNG image right in your browser, pick the resolution, and download.
4 min readPDF to JPG
06
How to Convert PDF to Word
How to convert PDF to Word for free: extract the text into an editable DOCX right in your browser, choose flowing paragraphs or line-by-line, and open it in Word, Google Docs or Pages.
5 min readPDF to Word
07
How to Extract Tables from a PDF to Excel
How to extract table data from a PDF into Excel or CSV for free: detect rows and columns automatically, preview the result, and download an XLSX or CSV - all in your browser, no upload.
4 min readPDF to Excel
08
How to Unlock a PDF
How to unlock a PDF and remove printing, copying and editing restrictions for free. Learn the two kinds of PDF password and which one can be removed.
6 min readUnlock PDF
09
How to Make a Scanned PDF Searchable
How to make a scanned PDF searchable for free with OCR. Learn what the invisible text layer is, how to tell if your PDF needs it, and what affects accuracy.
6 min readOCR PDF (Make Scanned PDF Searchable)
10
How to Rotate a PDF and Save It
How to rotate a PDF and save the rotation for free. Why viewer rotation does not stick, what the page rotation flag does, and which angle to pick.
6 min readRotate PDF
11
How to Add a Watermark to a PDF
How to add a watermark to a PDF for free. What a watermark really is inside the file, how to pick the opacity and font size, and why it deters rather than protects.
6 min readWatermark PDF
12
How to Add Page Numbers to a PDF
How to add page numbers to a PDF for free: choosing the position and format, skipping a cover page, starting at a number other than 1, and setting the margin.
6 min readAdd Page Numbers to PDF
13
How to Delete Pages from a PDF
How to delete pages from a PDF for free: the page-range syntax, a worked example, when to use Split or Organize instead, and what changes inside the file.
6 min readRemove Pages from PDF
Image tools
701
PNG vs JPG vs WebP
PNG vs JPG vs WebP compared: lossy vs lossless, transparency, file size, and browser support - with a simple guide to choosing the right image format.
5 min readImage Converter
02
How to Make a Passport Photo at Home
How to make a passport photo at home for free. Take the right photo, crop it to your country size at 300 DPI, then print or upload it and meet the rules.
5 min readPassport Photo Maker
03
How to Compress an Image
How to compress an image to reduce file size while keeping it looking sharp. Learn lossy vs lossless, the right quality level, and JPG vs WebP.
6 min readImage Compressor
04
How to Extract Text from an Image (OCR)
How to extract text from an image with OCR. Learn how optical character recognition works, what makes it accurate, and how to turn a photo or screenshot into editable text.
6 min readImage to Text (OCR)
05
How to Resize an Image
How to resize an image online: change width and height, keep the aspect ratio, pick the right dimensions for web or Instagram, and why upscaling adds no detail.
6 min readImage Resizer
06
How to Crop an Image
How to crop a photo online: drag the selection or type exact pixels, lock a ratio like 1:1 or 16:9, pick the right crop for a profile picture, and why cropping never softens the pixels you keep.
6 min readCrop Image
07
How to Remove EXIF Data from Photos
What EXIF data records, why the GPS tag matters most, and how to read and strip metadata from a JPG, PNG or WebP in your browser without re-encoding the picture or losing any quality.
6 min readEXIF Viewer & Remover