Title: The Mathematics of Credit Cards (as an application of exponential equations)
Discipline(s) or Field(s): Mathematics
Authors: Kirthi Premadasa, Paul Martin, Clare Hemenway, University of Wisconsin-Marathon County
Submission Date: December 14, 2008
Goals of the lesson:
- Students will learn how to make basic interest calculations, when calculating the monthly payments and the monthly interest charges on credit card balances.
- Students will learn what “amortization” means and will learn to fill in an amortization table.
- Students will use logarithms to solve the exponential equations encountered in the calculations of the payment periods for different payment methods.
- Students will develop an insight to the advantages and the disadvantages of the different payment methods.