Compound Interest

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Compound Interest

by PGMAT » Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:36 pm
Michelle deposited a certain sum of money in a savings account on July 1st, 2007. She earns an 8% interest compounded semiannually. The sum of money in the account on December 31st, 2009 is approximately what percent of the initial deposit?

117%
120%
121%
135%
140%

Can some one show an easy way to solve this? Thanks.
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:59 pm
Simple interest over 5 periods would be 20% (4 x 5). You know you are going to be more than this because of compounding but not almost double or double as is in D and E.
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by adthedaddy » Thu Aug 30, 2012 8:13 pm
Ans: 121%
Detailing the steps below -
Assuming Principal amount=100 , over 5 terms we get a sum = 121 which is 121%
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by mohan514 » Fri Aug 31, 2012 10:22 am
adthedaddy wrote:Ans: 121%
Detailing the steps below -
Assuming Principal amount=100 , over 5 terms we get a sum = 121 which is 121%
can we take 8% annually as 4% semi annually when compounding it
please elaborate your explanation..
thanks