Expert: Bobby Soltani - 7/3/2009

Question
I am lost, I have to write a radical expression about what my salary will be in 10 years? Can you help!

Answer
Hi Jennifer,

I'm not sure what is meant by a radical expression about what a salary would be in 10 years.

If you assume that your current salary is S0, annual raises of r, and 10 years, you can write the final salary S10 as

S10 = S0*(1 + r)^10

For example, if the annual raises are 5%, then r = 0.05.

After the first year,

S1 = S0*(1.05)

After the second year,

S2 = S1*(1.05) = S0*(1.05)(1.05) = S0*(1.05)^2

And so on...

I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Bobby