document.write( "Question 1003761: In how many years time will a sum of money quintuple at a rate of 4% per annum compounded quarterly? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #620411 by Theo(13342)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
the general formula is:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "f = p * (1+r)^n\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "f is the future value
\n" ); document.write( "p is the present value
\n" ); document.write( "r is the interest rate per time period.
\n" ); document.write( "n is the number of time periods.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "your problem wants to know when your money will quintuple if you invest it at 4% per year compounded quarterly.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "your compounding periods per year are 4.
\n" ); document.write( "your number of time periods will be 4 * the number of years.
\n" ); document.write( "your interest rate per time period will be the annual interest rate divided by 4.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "4% per year give you an interest rate of .04 per year.
\n" ); document.write( "divide that by 4 and you get an interest rate of .01 per time period, with each time period being a quarter of a year.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "you want to quintuple our money, so set f = 5 and p = 1.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "the formula of f = p * (1+r)^n becomes:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "5 = 1 * 1.01^n\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "this can be written as 5 = 1.01^n because 1 times anything is equal to anything.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "so you start with 5 = 1.01^n\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "take the log of both sides of this equation to get log(5) = log(1.01^n).\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "since log(1.01^n) is equivalent to n * log(1.01), your equation becomes:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "log(5) = n * log(1.01)\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "divide both sides of this equation by log(1.01) to get:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "log(5) / log(1.01) = n\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "use your calculator to solve for n to get:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "n = 161.7471757\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "since your time period is in quarters of a year, you need to divide that by 4 to get the number of years.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "your solution is that the number of years for your money to quintuple is 40.43679392 years.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "to prove this is correct, go back to your formula and replace n with 4 * 40.43679392 to get 161.7471757 and your equation will become:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "5 = 1 * 1.01^161.7471757\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "solve this equation to get 5 = 5\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "this confirms the equation is correct.\r
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