James is interested in buying a new cadillac escalade. He did some research and found out thy on average the suv will cost 40,057.07 after 2 years of the purchase, and 19,192.53 after 5years. Find a rule that shows the depreciation of the vehicle. How much was the brand new cadillac escalade? What is its depreciation rate (multiplier)

2 answers

let the depreciation rate be r
and the initial cost be a

looks like a geometric sequence where
ar^5 = 19 192.53 and ar^2 = 40 057.07

divide first by the second
r^3 = .4791296
take cube root
r = .7825 ( it depreciates at a rate of 21.75% per year)

sub that back into ar^2 = ...
a = 65 420

(Somebody should talk some sense into James)
Lol thanks