Step 1. The information that we have is:
The principal amount of the investment P:
P=500
The interest rate r:
r=12%
The time of the investment t in years:
t=2
And we also know that the investment is compounded quarterly.
Step 2. We will need the interest rate as a decimal number, for this, we divide it by 100:
We will also need n, which is the number of times of compounding over a year. Since it is compounded quarterly, it is compounded 4 times per year, therefore, the value of n will be 4:
Step 3. Using the compound interest formula
Where A is the final amount.
Step 4. Substituting the known values into the formula:
Step 5. The final step is to solve the operations.
First, we simplify the exponent:
Then, we make the division:
Add 1 and 0.03:
Keep solving the rest of the operations to find the final amount (the result of the investment after 2 years):
Rounding the result to the nearest cent:
The final amount is $633.39
Answer: 633.39