Sometimes people who seem to lead what would be considered an ordinary life do extraordinary things. Such was the case with Oseola McCarty, who donated a large sum of money for a university scholarship fund in her name. Oseala lived her life taking in clothes that she would wash for people in a large kettle over a fire. Her donation became a legacy that inspired many others to donate. While Oseala's character could surely be considered impressive, wait until your students see the power of compounded interest! In this lesson, they will use geometric series to answer questions of Oseola's accumulated savings. 

Concepts

geometric series, series

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Additional Tags

compounded interest, geometric series, math

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Pros

• Helps develop financial literacy concepts 
• Asks learners to speculate about what they anticipate the answer to be and compare different scenerios of savings

Cons

• None

Common Core

HSA-SSE.B.4 MP5 MP8