To solve this problem, we're going to use the compound interest formula. The formula for compound interest is
where A is the balance with the interest added, P is the principal balance, r is the interest rate, n is the number of times interest is compounded per time period and t is the number of time periods.
In our problem, we start with $10,000, which represents the principal balance P. After 3 years(our amount of time periods t) Hordan's friend paid him back $11,500, which is the balance with the interest added(A). Since the amount of time is 3 years and the interest was compounded annually, the number of times interest is compounded per time period(n) is equal to 1.
Plugging those values in the formula, we have
Solving for r, we have
And this was the interest rate.