It often is convenient to state the

It often is convenient to state the portion of an asset's appreciable cost that will be written off during the year as a percentage, called the depreciation rate. When straight-line depreciation is in use, the depreciation rate is simply 1 divided by the life (in years) of the asset. The delivery truck in our example has an estimated life of 5 years, so the depreciation expense each year is 1/5, or 20 percent, of the depreciable amount. Similarly, an asset with a 10 year life has a depreciation rate of 1/10, or 10 percent; and an asset with an 8 year life, a depreciation rate of 1/8, or 121/2 percent