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| Question 1173174:  A local university is planning to invest $500,000 every 3 months in an investment which earns interest at the rate of 12% per year compounded quarterly. The first investment will be at the end of this current quarter. a) To what sum will be the investment grow at the end of 5 years. b) How much interest will be earned during this period?
 Answer by CPhill(1987)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Let's break down this investment problem step-by-step: **a) To what sum will the investment grow at the end of 5 years?**
 1.  **Identify the variables:**
 * Payment (PMT): $500,000
 * Interest rate per year (r): 12% or 0.12
 * Compounding frequency (n): Quarterly, so 4 times per year
 * Interest rate per period (i): r/n = 0.12 / 4 = 0.03
 * Number of years (t): 5
 * Total number of periods (N): t * n = 5 * 4 = 20
 2.  **Use the future value of an ordinary annuity formula:**
 * FV = PMT * [((1 + i)^N - 1) / i]
 3.  **Plug in the values:**
 * FV = $500,000 * [((1 + 0.03)^20 - 1) / 0.03]
 * FV = $500,000 * [((1.03)^20 - 1) / 0.03]
 * FV = $500,000 * [(1.80611123467 - 1) / 0.03]
 * FV = $500,000 * [0.80611123467 / 0.03]
 * FV = $500,000 * 26.870374489
 * FV = $13,435,187.24 (approximately)
 Therefore, the investment will grow to approximately $13,435,187.24 at the end of 5 years.
 **b) How much interest will be earned during this period?**
 1.  **Calculate the total amount invested:**
 * Total investment = PMT * N = $500,000 * 20 = $10,000,000
 2.  **Calculate the total interest earned:**
 * Total interest = FV - Total investment
 * Total interest = $13,435,187.24 - $10,000,000
 * Total interest = $3,435,187.24
 Therefore, the total interest earned during this period will be approximately $3,435,187.24.
 
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