Hw help! math problem makes no sense..i tried 5 times!?


Question:
suppose you have $20000 to invest. you choose to invest part at 5% in a safe savings account and the rest in stock that yielded 10% last year. how much should be invested at each rate in order to make $750 for the first year?

Answer:
You forgot to include the detail that your stockbroker is embezzling half the earnings!! Seriously, the problem has no valid solution with the given numbers, so something is off.
x = the 5% investment quantity
20000 - x = 10% investment quantity

NOTE:
5% = .05 = 1/20
10% = .1 = 1/10

(x * 1/20) + (20000 - x) * 1/10 = 750
multitply both sides by 20
x + (20000 - x) * 2 = 15000
x + 40000 - 2x = 15000
x = 25000

hmmmm, sumpin wrong

consider this:
investing ALL the 20,000 in the 5% account would give you $1000 the first year.

this is a crap problem, since the answer is "impossible" by use of mathematical reasoning.

It forces "creative accounting" upon you, which is beyond the scope of math-reasoning

.

you could talk glibly about "past performance is no guarantee of future results ...

but you STILL would not be able to have a "for sure" solution.

If you invested $15,000 in the 5% account, you would earn $750 in interest, freeing up the other $5000 for invest in the (unpredictable) stock fund ... where you COULD lose the entire $5000, thus wiping out the $750 gained.

not a very satisfactory result.

Poorly crafted problem if it was assigned as a math problem

(I saw the Enron story on TV tonight and still steamed at how 'financial' manipulators screwed ordinary people out of their savings.)
Well, there has to be a mistake in the question.

If you invest the whole $ 20,000 for 5% you already got $ 20000*0,05 = $ 1000. And in any combination you get even more, so its not resolvable unless you not invest some amount of the money.
what amount is the 'safe' savings account yielding? And just cuz stock yielded 10% last year, doesn't mean it will this year..

i think you're missing stuff in your question ??
Have You ever Had a Broken Arm? The Minimum Interest @5% Exceeds the $750 and it dose say "Each Rate"
Perhaps the Question is completely wrong
Or If you are Like my lender, You Just Pocket the Leftovers, and call it "Corporate Expense", before even beginning the Headaches of accounting, then Shuffle around the Paperwork, so it looks right and Blame it on the Temporary Employee Agency.
the 20000$ must be separated into two parts.the first with 5 % and the other with 10%.
if p is the proportion of the 5% then
20000*p*0.05+20000*(1-p)*0.1=7...
1000p+2000-2000p=750
1000p=-1250
p=-1.25 (impossible) ,p must be positive and between 0 and 1.
so there is no solution.
$20,000 to invest
Invest $x at 5% and $(20000 - x) at 10%
Interest 1 = 5x / 100
Interest 2 = (10/100).(20000 - x)
Total interest = (1/20).x + (1/10).(20000 - x)
750 =(1/20).x + (1/10).(20000 - x)
15000 = x + 40000 - 2x
x = 25000
Error in question perhaps?
well we know there is a mistake. I would guess there is a ( 1 ) missing in front of the 750 dollar amount. In that case to get $1750 int rest on $20000 you would need to invest $5000 @ 5% & $15000 @ 10%
The values in your problem does not give any solution!
consider the extreme conditions
means $0 invested for 5% interest and $20000 invested for 10% int.

Total amount at first year=0+20000(0.1) =2000
If it is in reverse order,means,$20000 invested for 5% int. and $0 invested for 10% int.
Total amt. at first year =20000(0.05)+0 =1000
No way it can be less than $1000.
So wrong data!!
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