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Old trunks in the attic are a good bet for finding a hidden inheritance, right? But watch out for unreturned library books... Ohm2499/Shutterstock
divide and conquer

Maths Week: Your Monday puzzle

Figure it out.

MATHS WEEK KICKED off at the weekend and as is our annual tradition here, we’re setting you a puzzle a day with all answers published on site on Sunday morning.

Get puzzling!

The recent OECD survey of financial awareness revealed that many adults around the world struggle with calculations to check everyday financial dealings. In particular people seem to have trouble with compound interest. This is not too surprising because we don’t seem to have an intuition for how sums can accumulate over time. See if you can tackle this one.

TODAY’S Q: You are clearing out an elderly relative’s house preparing it for sale. You expect to make over a million on your inheritance.

You find an old library book with a letter inside.

The letter says that there was a fine due of 5 pence with an interest charge of 1% every week thereafter it’s left unpaid. The date of the letter is Monday 13 October 1975.

If you decide to pay your relative’s debt will it make much of a dent in your inheritance?

All answers will be published on TheJournal.ie on Sunday morning.

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