All ACT Math Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #3 : Pattern Behaviors In Exponents
If an account has interest compounded annually at a rate of , what is the balance of the account after years of compounding if the initial balance is ? Round to the nearest cent.
Recall that the equation for compounded interest (with annual compounding) is:
Where is the balance, is the rate of interest, and is the number of years.
Thus, for our data, we need to know:
This is approximately .
Example Question #3 : How To Find Compound Interest
If an account has interest compounded quarterly at an annual rate of , what is the balance of the account after years of compounding if the initial balance is ? Round to the nearest cent.
Recall that the equation for compounded interest (with quarterly compounding) is:
Where is the balance, is the rate of interest, is the number of years, and is the number of times it is compounded per year.
Thus, for our data, we need to know:
This is approximately .
Example Question #4 : How To Find Compound Interest
An account is compounded at a given rate of interest annually for years. What is this rate if the beginning balance for the account was and its ending balance ? Round to the nearest hundredth of a percent.
Recall that the equation for compounded interest (with annual compounding) is:
Where is the balance, is the rate of interest, and is the number of years.
Thus, for our data, we need to know:
Now, let's use for . This gives us:
Using a logarithm, this can be rewritten:
This can be rewritten:
Now, you can solve for :
or
Now, finally you can rewrite this as:
Thus,
Now, round this to and recall that
Thus, and or
Example Question #2381 : Act Math
Jack has , to invest. If he invests two-thirds of it into a high-yield savings account with an annual interest rate of , compounded quarterly, and the other third in a regular savings account at simple interest, how much does Jack earn after one year?
First, break the problem into two segments: the amount Jack invests in the high-yield savings, and the amount Jack invests in the simple interest account (10,000 and 5,000 respectively).
Now let's work with the high-yield savings account. $10,000 is invested at an annual rate of 8%, compounded quarterly. We can use the compound interest formula to solve:
Plug in the values given:
Therefore, Jack makes $824.32 off his high-yield savings account. Now let's calculate the other interest:
Add the two together, and we see that Jack makes a total of, off of his investments.
Example Question #1 : How To Find Compound Interest
Michelle makes a bank deposit of $1,500 at 4.2% annual interest, compounded monthly. Approximately how much money will be in Michelle’s bank account in 3 years?
$1,693
$1,701
$1,695
$1,697
$1,701
The formula to use for compounded interest is
where P is the principal (original) amount, r is the interest rate (expressed in decimal form), n is the number of times per year the interest compounds, and t is the total number of years the money is left in the bank. In this problem, P=1,500, r=0.042, n=12, and t=3.
By plugging in, we find that Michelle will have about $1,701 at the end of three years.
Example Question #2382 : Act Math
For which of the following values of n will (–3)n represent a real number between 0 and 1?
0
1
–2
2
–1
–2
In order to transform a negative integer to a positive one, it must be taken to an even power, and to make it a fraction between 0 and 1, it must be taken to a negative power. The only choice that fits both criteria is -2.
Example Question #2383 : Act Math
A professional football player’s contract states that he will earn a salary of $1 million his first year. He would then have a 15% increase every year thereafter for the next 5 years. What would he make in his 6th and final season on the contract?
We can represent this as an exponential equation (just use million as a label and not a variable):
$1m * (1.15)5 = $2.01m
Example Question #2384 : Act Math
What is the value of the expression , given that ?
First, calculate the value of m by taking the two-thirds root of both m3/2 and 64, leaving m=16. Then solve the expression by plugging in 16 for m. This gives 162 + 3(16) = 256 + 48 = 304.
Example Question #2385 : Act Math
Evaluate
Example Question #2 : How To Find Patterns In Exponents
If , then which of the following must also be true?
We know that the expression must be negative. Therefore one or all of the terms x7, y8 and z10 must be negative; however, even powers always produce positive numbers, so y8 and z10 will both be positive. Odd powers can produce both negative and positive numbers, depending on whether the base term is negative or positive. In this case, x7 must be negative, so x must be negative. Thus, the answer is x < 0.
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