Given the expression 500(1.025)exponent t, what does 500 represent?

Question

I am not sure that I entirely understand this but the answer choices are:

A) Amount of Time
B) Ending Amount
C) Interest Rate
D) Starting Amount

I believe the answer is D.
I would like to know if I can get more of an explanation on this though if possible

Answer 1

Looks like the application of the standard compound interest formula
amount = principal(1 + i)^t

The $500 is the principal or "starting amount"

D is correct

Answer 2

Hello Reiny. So there is a formula for this then. I appreciate you sharing the formula with me and double checking my answer on this. I will post another 2 questions seperately and will try and show my work or my train of thought on these.

Thank you