Question 609189
Your problem describes a sequence of percent changes. I find that a simple way to solve these kinds of problems is to use the following equation:
FinalAmt = OriginalAmt * (1 + P)*(1 + P)*(1 + P) ...
where "P" is<ul><li>the decimal equivalent of the percent</li><li>positive if the change is an increase or negative if the change is a decrease</li></ul>So for your problem the equation would be:
FinalAmt = 110*(1+0.067)*(1+0.067)*(1+0.067)*(1+0.067)*(1+0.067)*(1+(-0.042))*(1+(-0.042))*(1+(-0.042))*(1+(-0.042))*(1+(-0.042))<br>
At any point now you could use your calculator to get the answer. I am going to simplify the equation a little:
1 + 0.067 = 1.067 and 1 + -0.042 = 0.958 so now the equation is
FinalAmt = 110*1.067*1.067*1.067*1.067*1.067*0.958*0.958*0.958*0.958*0.958<br>
If you are comfortable with exponents we could rewrite the equation as:
FinalAmt = {{{110*1.067^5*0.958^5}}}
which can be rewritten as:
FinalAmt = {{{110*(1.067*0.958)^5}}}<br>
I'll leave it up to you to use your calculator on any of the four versions of the equation to get an answer. (Round off your answer to the nearest whole number since we're talking about people and we don't have fractions of people.)