Worked examples
🧮 The math, run all the way through
These are worked examples, not customer stories.
Illustrative worked example. The household is hypothetical; every figure is computed by the same verified engines and rule packs the calculators use. No page here describes a real person, a real claim, or a real outcome, and nothing on this site reports what happened to anybody. The households are invented so the arithmetic has something to chew on; the arithmetic itself is the real thing.
A calculator answers the question you already know how to ask. These pages are for the questions one step before that — why three ratings combine to 70 rather than 100, why a retroactive award is not one monthly rate multiplied out, why two different rules trim an SSDI back-pay span from opposite ends. Each example declares its inputs up front, walks the rules in order, and then shows what the site's own engine returns when those inputs are fed to it.
Because the figures come from the same verified rule packs the calculators read, they move when the tables move. When the December 1 VA rates or the October SNAP allotments turn over, these pages recompute — there is no hardcoded result anywhere in them.
FERS at MRA+10 vs Waiting Until 62 — What the 1.1% Multiplier Is Worth
An illustrative federal employee reaches the minimum retirement age at 57 with 25 years of service, and could instead work to 62 with 30 years. The same FERS formula runs both ways, showing the MRA+10 age reduction on one side and the 1.1% multiplier on the other.
5 steps · updated 2026-07-30
How 50% + 30% + 20% Combines to 70%, Not 100%
Three VA disability ratings, combined the way 38 CFR 4.25 actually does it: largest first against remaining capacity, then rounded to the nearest 10. The same three percentages are then re-run with two of them tagged as paired limbs, so the bilateral factor in 38 CFR 4.26 changes the answer.
5 steps · updated 2026-07-30
VA Back Pay Across the December 1 Boundary — Two Rate Tables, One Award
An illustrative retroactive award runs from a June effective date to a decision the following May, crossing the December 1 date on which VA compensation rates change. The months before and after the boundary are paid at different tables, and the computation itemizes each.
5 steps · updated 2026-07-30
SSDI Back Pay When Onset, Application, and Approval Are Years Apart
An illustrative SSDI claim with a January 2023 onset, a November 2024 application, and a February 2026 approval. Two separate rules trim the payable span: the five-month waiting period after onset, and the twelve-month retroactivity cap measured back from the application date.
5 steps · updated 2026-07-30
A SNAP Household of Four — The Gross Test, the Net Test, and 30% of Net
An illustrative family of four with $2,600 of monthly earned income and $1,730 in shelter and utility costs, run through the FY2026 SNAP screening arithmetic: the 130% gross test, the deductions that produce net income, the 100% net test, and the maximum allotment less 30% of net.
5 steps · updated 2026-07-30
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