For some of my students, interest calculations are troublesome: you can say that they quickly lose interest in interest.
If I still have your interest after that bad joke, I will continue. The two main types of interest are simple and compound interest. In simple interest, the principal (the amount initially invested) stays the same and interest is calculated on that amount at all times. In compound interest, the principal grows and the value upon which interest is calculated changes.
I have previously talked about percentages and how to take a percentage of a number. Please review that if you do not know how to take a percentage of a number.
As always, in any new topic, there are some definitions to know so that we understand each other. The following are the main definitions with the abbreviations for them that will be used in equations:
Principal (P): the amount invested or borrowed
Interest rate (r): a percentage to be applied to the principal. This can be a percentage (eg. 15%) or its decimal equivalent (0.15).
Interest (I): the dollar amount which results when the interest rate is applied to the principal
Time (t): the amount of time to be used in a problem
Period: the basic amount of time used by the interest rate. For example, 15% per annum (abbreviated p.a.) means that the period is 1 year.
Number of periods (n): The number of periods to be used in a given problem. Note that equations can be in terms of time (t) or number of periods (n).
Let’s start out with a simple interest situation. Suppose I invest $1000 at a simple interest rate of 3% p.a., that is 3% each year. Though I haven’t asked a question yet, let me identify the key items of this set up:
P = $1000
r = 3% or 0.03
period = 1 year
So my first question is: how much interest do I earn after 1 year? At the end of each year, if I keep that initial amount 0f $1000 in the investment, I will earn 3% of $1000 in interest. If you remember, to take a percentage “of” something, the “of” means to multiply. So after 1 year:
I = 3% × $1000 = (3/100) × 1000 or 0.03 × 1000 = $30
Note that in equations where you can put the interest rate in directly (the “3”), there will be a “/100” part in the equation. In equations where the decimal equivalent of the interest rate (0.03) is to be used, there will be no “/100” part. So the formulas to find the amount of interest (I) earned in 1 period are:
I = Pr/100, if you like to use the interest rate number directly (the “3”)
I = Pr, if you like to use the decimal equivalent of the interest rate (0.03)
This is why you may see different formulas in different books.
In my next post, I will ask some more questions about this investment and provide more formulas.