Question

Carter has balance of -2,096.37 on his bank loan.He makes a payment and subtracts $500 of his debt.Then he decides to make a monthly payment to subtract $250 of the debt each month.What is the least number of months that Carter needs to make the monthly payment to pay off the original debt? Explain your thinking

Answer 1

Answer:

7 months

Step-by-step explanation:

After Carter makes his $500 payment, the balance on the loan is -1596.37. We want to find the number of months (m) such that ...

... -1596.37 +250m ≥ 0

... m ≥ 1596.37/250 . . . . add 1596.37, divide by the coefficient of m

... m ≥ 6.4

The least number of months that is more than 6.4 is 7 months.

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Comment on this answer

Carter's loan balance may also be affected by interest charged on the loan amount. We don't expect those charges to be so high as to require an additional month's payment.