(Effective Annual Rate vs. APR/Quoted Rate) You have two options for borrowing a lump-sum of money over the next 5 years – to be paid back in one single “balloon payment.” The first option charges you 10% (annual, APR) interest with monthly compounding. The second option charges you 9.9% (annual, APR) interest with weekly compounding. What are the effective annual rates (EAR’s) in each case? Which should you choose and why?

The amberssen specialty company is a chain of twelve retail stores that sell a variety of imported gift items, gourmet chocolates, cheeses, and wines in the toronto area. amberssen has an is staff of three people who have created a simple but effective information system of networked point-of-sale registers at the stores and a centralized accounting system at the company head- quarters. harry hilman, the head of amberssens is group, has just received the following memo from bill amberssen, sales director (and son of amberssen’s founder). harry—it’s time amberssen specialty launched itself on the internet. many of our competitors are already there, selling to customers without the expense of a retail storefront, and we should be there too. i project that we could double or triple our annual revenues by selling our products on the internet. i’d like to have this ready by - giving, in time for the prime holiday gift-shopping season. bill after pondering this memo for several days, harry scheduled a meeting with bill so that he could clarify bill’s vision of this venture. using the standard con- tent of a system request as your guide, prepare a list of questions that harry needs to have answered about this project.