currency forward, less than a year currency, interest, question, forward, either

parott

If we are given annual interest rates for a six month currency forward, do we effect the rate by multiplying by .5, or do we raise it ^5? I guess that if the rate is given as compounded we us ^.5, but can we make that assumption either way?

I guess same question would apply to multi year forward, is the convention to multiply by the fraction or take the exponent?

thx