Question

With the exception of column one, all amounts are in dollars. What is starting principal of the loan? Give your answer in dollars to the nearest dollar. Do not include commas or the dollar sign in your answer.

Answer 1

First let us get the monthly rate

This can be gotten using the formula

`P*(r)/(12)=i`

Where P is principal,

r is the percent interet rate per year, so to get monthly interest is divide by 12

i is the monthly interet.

Using column 1 to determine the rate, we have

`\begin{gathered} P*(r)/(12)=i \\ 149,783.55*(r)/(12*100)=748.92 \\ (149,783.55r)/(1200)=748.92 \\ r=(1200*748.92)/(149,783.55) \\ r=6\text{ percent} \end{gathered}`

Now, the interest rate r = 6%

The starting principal becomes

`\begin{gathered} P*(6)/(12*100)=750 \\ (6P)/(1200)=750 \\ P=(750*1200)/(6) \\ P=150000\text{ dollars } \end{gathered}`

Therfore, the answer is 150000 dollars