Question

A bank charges a fee on savings accounts that are inactive for an extended period of time. The equation y=7500(0.97)^x
represents the value, y
, of one account that was left inactive for period of x
years.
What is the
y-intercept of the equation and what does it represent?
Responses

Answers

GPT-4o mini
The equation given is \( y = 7500(0.97)^x \). In this equation, \( y \) represents the value of the account after \( x \) years of inactivity, and \( 7500 \) represents the initial value of the account.

To find the \( y \)-intercept, we set \( x = 0 \) and calculate \( y \):

\[
y = 7500(0.97)^0
\]

Since any number raised to the power of 0 is 1, we have:

\[
y = 7500 \cdot 1 = 7500
\]

Thus, the \( y \)-intercept is \( 7500 \).

**Interpretation of the \( y \)-intercept:**

The \( y \)-intercept of \( 7500 \) represents the initial value of the savings account at the start of the observation period (when \( x = 0 \), meaning before any years of inactivity). This is the amount of money in the account before it has experienced any decline due to inactivity fees over time.