What an exchange rate actually is

An exchange rate is simply a price, the price of one currency measured in another. When you see that the rate is ₱56 per US dollar, that number is telling you exactly one thing: it takes ₱56 to buy one dollar right now, the same way a price tag tells you how many pesos a kilo of rice costs.

Rates are almost always quoted as how many pesos it takes to buy one unit of the foreign currency, whether that's a US dollar, a Japanese yen, or a Singapore dollar. Flip the same relationship around and it also tells you how many dollars, yen, or Singapore dollars one peso is worth, though that number is usually a small fraction rather than a round figure.

Unlike a price on a store shelf, an exchange rate isn't set once and left alone. It's a live number that moves throughout the day as currencies get bought and sold around the world, which is why the rate you see on a bank's app in the morning can already be slightly different by the afternoon.

If the rate is ₱56 per dollar, converting ₱56,000 gets you $1,000. Converting the other direction, $500 would get you ₱28,000, using that same ₱56-per-dollar price in both directions.