John invests £8000 at compound interest rate of 1.5% per year. He wants to earn more than £2000 in interest. What is the LEAST time in WHOLE years that this will take?

Step 1) Create the formula: 8000 x 1.015nStep 2) Equate to the target value: 8000 x 1.015n = 2000 10000 (Common mistake is to use target of £2000 but you must also take into account the £8000 that is already in the account as this is what will determine the amount of interest John gets per year)Step 3) Re-arrange to get value with 'n' by itself: 1.015n = 5/4Step 4) Use logs to find an exact value for n: Log1.015(1.015n) = Log1.015(5/4) => (Logs in first part of equation cancel) n = 14.988LEAST amount of WHOLE years = 15 (Always round up as if we rounded down the interest earned would be <£2000)

HH
Answered by Hamza H. Maths tutor

3346 Views

See similar Maths GCSE tutors

Related Maths GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Find the median, upper and lower quartiles of these numbers: 160, 390, 169, 175, 125, 420, 171, 250, 210, 258, 186, 243


Solve the simultaneous equations: (1) 4x + y = 7 and (2) x - 3y = 5


Given the function f(x) = 2x^2 + 3.When f(x) = 53 find both values of x


How do you find the volume of a conical frustum?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning