The Case of The Accidental Double, Triple, Quadruple, Quintuple

On 19 December 2003, Zelmo Zeroman accidently bought some Red Hat (RHT) stock at $16.87 per share. He decided to hold onto the shares because he believed Red Hat as a good long term investment. It took almost seven years for the accidental buy to double. At the of 2015 the RHT shares had increased by a multiple of five.

   12/19/2003:  $ 16.87  [accidental buy]
   09/01/2010:  $ 36.35  [accidental double at $33.74]
   10/27/2011:  $ 50.61  [accidental triple]
   12/19/2014:  $ 67.48  [accidental quadruple]
   12/30/2015:  $ 84.35  [accidental quintuple]
   ??/??/????:  $101.22  [accidental sextuple?]
   ??/??/????:  $118.09  [accidental septuple?]
   ??/??/????:  $134.96  [accidental octuple?]
   ??/??/????:  $151.83  [accidental nonuple?]
   ??/??/????:  $168.70  [accidental decuple?]
   05/16/2019:  $185.57  [accidental undecuple]

Exercises

1. $16.87 increased to $84.35 is a _______% increase.
   ...answer... (84.35 - 16.87) / 16.87 = 4 4 * 100(%) = 400% answer: 400%

2. If V(t) = 16.87(1.14353)^t, then V(12) = ______. [round to nearest hundredth]
   ...answer... V(12) = 16.87(1.14353)^12 V(12) = 84.35014508 answer: 84.35

3. A growth factor of 1.14353 is a growth rate of _______%. [round to nearest hundredth]
   ...answer... 1.14353 - 1 = 0.14353 0.14353 * 100(%) = 14.353% answer: 14.35%

Update::2019.05.16

IBM agreed to buy Red Hat for $190 per share, so this story is done.

Creator: Gerald Thurman [gthurman@gmail.com]
Created: 03 January 2016 (posted 04 January 2016)