(a) Mr Sarfo borrowed $25,000 from Afiak financial services at 21% simple interest per annum for 3 years if he was able to pay back the loan in two years at...

Answer Details

(a) If Mr. Sarfo borrowed $25,000 at a simple interest rate of 21% per annum for 3 years, the total amount of interest he would have to pay is:

$25,000 x 21% x 3 = $15,750

So, the total amount he would have to pay back is:

$25,000 + $15,750 = $40,750

If he pays back the loan in two years at equal yearly installments, he would have to pay:

$40,750 / 2 = $20,375 per year

Therefore, Mr. Sarfo would have to pay $20,375 each year to pay off the loan in two years.

(b) Let's assume that the two consecutive numbers are x and x+1 (where x is the smaller number).

According to the problem, the sum of thrice the smaller and twice the larger is 17. So, we can write an equation as:

3x + 2(x+1) = 17

Simplifying this equation, we get:

5x + 2 = 17

5x = 15

x = 3

So, the smaller number is 3 and the larger number is 4.

The sum of the two numbers is 7, so the percentage that the smaller number represents of the sum is:

(3/7) x 100% = 42.86% (rounded to three significant figures)

Therefore, the smaller number represents 42.86% of the sum of the two numbers.