GMAT Math : Interest Problems

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GMAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #111 : Word Problems

How much interest will be accumulated in a simple interest investment if  is invested for years at  interest rate?

Possible Answers:

$

$

$

$

Correct answer:

$

Explanation:

Simple interest equation:

Example Question #11 : Interest Problems

Jessica deposits $5,000 in a savings account that collects 6% simple interest. How much money will she have accumulated after 5 years?

Possible Answers:

None of the other answers are correct.

Correct answer:

Explanation:

 

Example Question #12 : Interest Problems

How many years does it take an investment of to yield in interest if invested at a  simple interest rate?

Possible Answers:

 

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Remember the simple interest formula, where I is interest, p is principle, r is rate, and t is time:

Example Question #12 : Calculating Simple Interest

Bob lends $500 to his friend, who agrees to pay it back one month later with 5% simple interest. How much will Bob's friend owe him at the end of the month?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

At the end of one month, Bob's friend will owe him the $500, plus the 5% simple interest he agreed to pay. The total amount he owes Bob, then, will be $500 plus 5% of $500. This gives us:

Example Question #14 : Interest Problems

We deposit today  in an account paying  simple interest every  months. Assuming we make no other deposits, how much interests will we receive after  years? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

By applying the formula for simple interest rates, , where  is the principal,  the rate for the given period and  is the number of periods we can easily get the amount of interests received. Our  is 15, because the rate is given for 6 months. 7 years is equivalent to 14 times 6 months, to that we add the last half year and we get 15 periods. Therefore the amount of interest received is :  or .

Example Question #14 : Calculating Simple Interest

If  is invested at  simple annual interest rate over  months, what it is the amount of interest earned over that period?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Here, we cannot apply the rate as is, since it is given for a year. We just have to divide the rate by the number of months in a year, since we are looking for a monthly rate. Therefore, the applicable rate is , now we can apply the  formula and we get:  or .

Example Question #13 : Interest Problems

A local credit union offers short-term loans at an annual interest rate of . If Jasmine takes out a  loan for  months, how much will she pay in interest?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Here we need our simple interest formula. There is no compounding, so all we need is:

 = Dollar amount of interest

 = Amount borrowed/invested

 = Annual interest rate

 = Number of years borrowed/loaned

Plug in what we know and solve for :

So, Jasmine pays  in interest. 

Example Question #13 : Interest Problems

We deposit  today in an account paying  annual simple interest, how much do we have in the account at the end of the  year, provided we make no other deposit? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

This is a simple interest problem, therefore, the amount of interests received is given by the formula: , where  is the principal,   is the number of periods and  is the rate over that period. In this problem  is 140,000,  is 10 and  is 10% or 0.1. Therefore we get  or 140,000. We add the interest received to the principal, and we get the final answer of .

Example Question #1 : Calculating Compound Interest

Grandpa Jack wants to help his grandson, Little Jack, with college expenses. Little Jack is currently 3 years old. If Grandpa Jack invests $5,000 in a college savings account earning 5% compounded yearly, how much money will he have in 15 years when Little Jack is 18? 

Possible Answers:

 Between $9,500-$10,000 

 Between $9,000-$9,500 

 Between $11,000-$11,500 

Between $10,000-$10,500

 Between $10,500-$11,000 

Correct answer:

Between $10,000-$10,500

Explanation:

To solve this, we can create an equation for the value based on time. So if we let t be the nmbers of years that have passed, we can create a function f(t) for the value in the savings account. 

We note that f(0) =5000. (We invest 5000 at time 0.) Next year, he will have 5% more than that. To find our total value at the end of the year, we multiply 5,000 * 1.05 = 5,250. f(1) = 5000(1.05)=5,250. At the end of year 2, we will have a 5% growth rate. In other words, f(2) = (1.05)* f(1). We can rewrite this as  . We can begin to see the proper equation is . If we plug in t = 15, we will have our account balance at the end of 15 years. So, our answer is .

 

 

Example Question #1 : Calculating Compound Interest

Cherry invested  dollars in a fund that paid 6% annual interest, compounded monthly. Which of the following represents the value, in dollars, of Cherry’s investment plus interest at the end of 3 years?

Possible Answers:

 

Correct answer:

 

Explanation:

The monthly rate is 

3 years = 36 months

According to the compound interest formula

and here , , , so we can plug into the formula and get the value

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