1. **State the problem:** We want to find the daily savings amount needed to accumulate $52200$ over 4 years with daily compounding interest at an annual rate of 4.6%.
2. **Formula used:** The future value $FV$ of a sinking fund with regular payments $P$ compounded daily is given by:
$$FV = P \times \frac{(1 + r/n)^{nt} - 1}{r/n}$$
where:
- $r = 0.046$ (annual interest rate)
- $n = 365$ (compounding periods per year)
- $t = 4$ (years)
3. **Rearrange to solve for $P$:**
$$P = \frac{FV \times (r/n)}{(1 + r/n)^{nt} - 1}$$
4. **Calculate intermediate values:**
- $r/n = \frac{0.046}{365} \approx 0.000126027$
- $nt = 365 \times 4 = 1460$
5. **Calculate $(1 + r/n)^{nt}$:**
$$ (1 + 0.000126027)^{1460} \approx e^{1460 \times \ln(1.000126027)} \approx e^{1460 \times 0.00012602} \approx e^{0.1839} \approx 1.2019 $$
6. **Calculate denominator:**
$$1.2019 - 1 = 0.2019$$
7. **Calculate numerator:**
$$52200 \times 0.000126027 = 6.5774$$
8. **Calculate daily payment $P$:**
$$P = \frac{6.5774}{0.2019} \approx 32.56$$
**Final answer:** The undergraduate needs to save approximately **32.56** each day to afford the median cost of a masters degree after 4 years.
Daily Sinking Fund 9A82E0
Step-by-step solutions with LaTeX - clean, fast, and student-friendly.