also, what formula would i have to use for this:

Effective Rate An advertisement for E*TRADE bank boasted "We're ahead of banks that had a 160-yr start," with an APY (or effective rate) of 2.01%.* The actual rate was not stated. Given that interest was compounded monthly, find the actual rate.

(1+x/12)^12 = 1.0201. Solve for x.

I personally would use and EXCEL spreadsheet and iterate till I found x.