SL 1.4—Financial applications
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2021
- Objective
- —
- Level
- SL
Model compound interest or depreciation with repeated multiplication.
A percentage change each period is geometric: A=P(1±r)ⁿ, with the sign chosen for growth or depreciation.
Worked example
1000at51102.50.
Worked example
Why is 5% added twice not 10% of the original? the second 5% applies to the new balance.
Common boundary
Compound percentage change is not simple linear addition.
Compounding-frequency example: 1200 dollars at a nominal annual rate of 6% compounded monthly for two years gives A=1200(1+0.06/12)^{24}=\1352.59tothenearestcent.Forannualdepreciationreplacethegrowthfactorby1-r.Tocomparepurchasingpowerwithannualinflationi,dividethenominalvalueafternyearsby(1+i)^n$; nominal growth alone does not guarantee a gain in real value.