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Use the simple interest formula I=prt, where I is the interest, p the principal, r the annual interest rate, and t the time in years.
6 %
If we borrow money from a bank, we pay the bank interest for the use of their money. Similarly, if we have an unpaid balance on a credit card, we also pay interest to the credit card company. To calculate the interest I, we use the simple interest formula.
I= p r t, where...
I& = Interest
p& = Principal
r& = Annual interest rate
t& = Time (in years)
We know that Jake received a student loan for $12 000 and plans on paying off the loan in 5 years. At the end of 5 years, he will have paid $ 3600 in interest. Let's substitute these values into the formula. To make the math easier, we will ignore the units for now.
Multiply
.LHS /60 000.=.RHS /60 000.
Cancel out common factors
Simplify quotient
Use a calculator
Rearrange equation
We found that r= 0.06 is a solution to the equation. We can write the solution as a percent by moving the decimal point two places to the right and writing the percent symbol. r=0.06 = 6 % The simple interest rate is equal to 6 %.