you deposit $750 in an account that pays 1.2% interest. What values do you use in the simple interest formula I = prt to find the interest earned after 18 months?

1 answer

To use the simple interest formula \( I = prt \) to calculate the interest earned after 18 months, you need to identify the values for \( p \), \( r \), and \( t \):

  1. \( p \) (the principal amount): This is the initial deposit. In your case, \( p = 750 \) dollars.

  2. \( r \) (the annual interest rate): This is given as a percentage, so you need to convert it to a decimal for the formula. The interest rate is 1.2%, which is \( r = \frac{1.2}{100} = 0.012 \).

  3. \( t \) (the time the money is deposited or borrowed, in years): Since you want to calculate the interest for 18 months, you need to convert that into years. 18 months is equal to \( \frac{18}{12} = 1.5 \) years.

Now, you can plug these values into the formula:

  • \( p = 750 \)
  • \( r = 0.012 \)
  • \( t = 1.5 \)

So, the interest earned after 18 months can be calculated as follows:

\[ I = 750 \times 0.012 \times 1.5 \]

You can perform the calculation to find the interest earned.