From: Claire (for Teacher2Teacher Service)
Date: Mar 09, 2007 at 12:17:17
Subject: Re: Sales tax/interest

Hi, Cory --

This sounds like a good topic for spreadsheets. Sales tax can be the example
of a flat rate. Most interest is compounded. That would be a good source for
comparison. The spreadsheet can show pretty graphically the effect of
compounding, whether you're on the receiving end, as in a savings account
where starting early makes so much difference, or on the giving end, as in
credit card debt, which is money thrown away. Important stuff!

Here are some Dr. Math page that explain simple and compound interest:
http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.interest.html
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54612.html
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54628.html (monthly compounding)

I'd be interested in hearing about what you do.

 -Claire, for the T2T service

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