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mikemcgarry
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate Updated on: 23 Oct 2024, 10:48
Originally posted by mikemcgarry on 24 Jan 2013, 18:09.
Last edited by Bunuel on 23 Oct 2024, 10:48, edited 2 times in total.
RENAMED THE TOPIC.
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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45% (medium)

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69% (02:00) correct 31% (02:18) wrong based on 1030 sessions

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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate of 3.96%, compounding semi-annually. Approximately how much does she have in her account after two years?

(A) $10079.44
(B) $10815.83
(C) $12652.61
(D) $14232.14
(E) $20598.11

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On the GMAT, you are not allowed to use a calculator, and yet the test can give you problems like this. It is so important to learn estimation skills that allow you to dispatch questions like this with simple arithmetic. For a full discussion of estimation strategies, as well as an analysis of this question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-power ... mat-quant/

Mike :-)
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B
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rohitgupta86
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 27 Jan 2013, 10:28
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Very Simple question (I mean the options are very helpful)..

Let us consider interest rate as 4%. Therefore, in 6 months, the investment earns 200 dollars..

similarly...in next 6 months something more than 200 dollars...

therefore, in 2 years...10815 is the return..
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 25 Jan 2013, 10:15
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amount = principal * ( 1+ r/n) ^nt
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 29 Jan 2013, 23:49
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Very Simple question (I mean the options are very helpful)..
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Exactly! Forget the "semi-annually".
4% per year means 8% for two years. Answer B.
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 14 Nov 2013, 16:50
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mikemcgarry
Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate of 3.96%, compounding semi-annually. Approximately how much does she have in her account after two years?

(A) $10079.44
(B) $10815.83
(C) $12652.61
(D) $14232.14
(E) $20598.11

On the GMAT, you are not allowed to use a calculator, and yet the test can give you problems like this. It is so important to learn estimation skills that allow you to dispatch questions like this with simple arithmetic. For a full discussion of estimation strategies, as well as an analysis of this question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-power- ... mat-quant/

Mike :-)
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I don't know how I got this wrong.

3.96% = 0.0396

Then 1.0396^4 (4 semesters in 2 years) * 10^4
Then (10*1.0396)^4
So you get (10.396^4) as the answer.
So answer should have 6 in last digit but I don't see any answer choice that fits the bill.

Any ideas?
Cheers!
J :)
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 14 Nov 2013, 17:04
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jlgdr
mikemcgarry
Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate of 3.96%, compounding semi-annually. Approximately how much does she have in her account after two years?

(A) $10079.44
(B) $10815.83
(C) $12652.61
(D) $14232.14
(E) $20598.11

On the GMAT, you are not allowed to use a calculator, and yet the test can give you problems like this. It is so important to learn estimation skills that allow you to dispatch questions like this with simple arithmetic. For a full discussion of estimation strategies, as well as an analysis of this question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-power- ... mat-quant/

Mike :-)

I don't know how I got this wrong.

3.96% = 0.0396

Then 1.0396^4 (4 semesters in 2 years) * 10^4
Then (10*1.0396)^4
So you get (10.396^4) as the answer.
So answer should have 6 in last digit but I don't see any answer choice that fits the bill.

Any ideas?
Cheers!
J :)
Show more
Dear J,
What you thought was a clever approach, but you see, with money, folks always round everything to the nearest penny. That units digit might be in the tenths or hundreds or thousands of cent, so that just gets rounded off and does not appear in the monetary answers. In fact, three places after the decimal is the thousands place for the 6 in 10.396, so when we raise that to the fourth, the final 6 would be in the trillionth place, the 12th place after the decimal point. That's definitely a decimal place you will not see on your bank statement!
Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 27 Dec 2013, 08:11
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mikemcgarry
jlgdr
mikemcgarry
Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate of 3.96%, compounding semi-annually. Approximately how much does she have in her account after two years?

(A) $10079.44
(B) $10815.83
(C) $12652.61
(D) $14232.14
(E) $20598.11

On the GMAT, you are not allowed to use a calculator, and yet the test can give you problems like this. It is so important to learn estimation skills that allow you to dispatch questions like this with simple arithmetic. For a full discussion of estimation strategies, as well as an analysis of this question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-power- ... mat-quant/

Mike :-)

I don't know how I got this wrong.

3.96% = 0.0396

Then 1.0396^4 (4 semesters in 2 years) * 10^4
Then (10*1.0396)^4
So you get (10.396^4) as the answer.
So answer should have 6 in last digit but I don't see any answer choice that fits the bill.

Any ideas?
Cheers!
J :)
Dear J,
What you thought was a clever approach, but you see, with money, folks always round everything to the nearest penny. That units digit might be in the tenths or hundreds or thousands of cent, so that just gets rounded off and does not appear in the monetary answers. In fact, three places after the decimal is the thousands place for the 6 in 10.396, so when we raise that to the fourth, the final 6 would be in the trillionth place, the 12th place after the decimal point. That's definitely a decimal place you will not see on your bank statement!
Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
Show more

Yeah got it Mike, that was very kind of you to clarify

Thanks

Cheers!
J :)

PS. I guess one can use simple interest to solve cause the answer choices are quite spread between you can easily arrive at something near 8%

Hence B the answer
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 22 Sep 2017, 00:12
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amount = principal * ( 1+ r/n) ^nt

Answer is B
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Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate 25 Jul 2025, 11:52
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If rate of Interest is small and n (Number of years) = small (compounded annually), use this linearized version:
A=P(1+rt)
P=10000
r=3.96-->4%
t=4 (Since compounded semi annually, there will be 4 periods of half year each)
rate=3.96/2 (Since Annual rate is 3.96, half year rate is 1.98 approximately 2
A= 10000(1+8%)
=10000*1.08
=10815.

Pl give kudoos if you liked my approach


mikemcgarry
Jill invests $10000 in an account that pays an annual rate of 3.96%, compounding semi-annually. Approximately how much does she have in her account after two years?

(A) $10079.44
(B) $10815.83
(C) $12652.61
(D) $14232.14
(E) $20598.11

Show Spoiler

On the GMAT, you are not allowed to use a calculator, and yet the test can give you problems like this. It is so important to learn estimation skills that allow you to dispatch questions like this with simple arithmetic. For a full discussion of estimation strategies, as well as an analysis of this question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-power ... mat-quant/

Mike :-)
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