# Getting a number from interest equation

Here is the question for my homework:

A mother wants to invest 7000 USD for her son's future education. She invests a portion of the money in a bank certificate of deposit (CD account) which earns 4% and the remainder in a savings bond that earns 7%. If the total interest earned after one year is $420.00, how much money was invested in the CD account? Now, here is my steps: Amount invested in the savings bond can be represented as 7000 - x The interest earned in one year on the CD account is 0.04x So, the interest earned on the savings bond in one year can be represented as: 0.07(7000-x) The total interested earned after one year is 420.00 USD The equation is now 0.04x+0.07(7000-x) = 420.00 Now to SIMPLFY it. I have this so far n - 420.00 = 0.03x How do I get the number N? -  Shouldn't your n just be the .07*7000 that you left out in your last line? – jericson Oct 3 '10 at 21:24 @Dan: The solution of your eq.$0.04x+0.07(7000-x)=420.00$is$x=\frac{7000}{3}\approx 2333.33$. Since the LHS,$0.04x+0.07(7000-x)=490.0-0.03x$, you have the equivalent eq.$490.0-0.03x=420.00$or$490.0-420.00=0.03x$, the solution of which is$x=\frac{490.0-420.00}{0.03}=\frac{7000}{3}\approx 2333.33\$ USD. – Américo Tavares Oct 3 '10 at 21:55

I'm not sure what n is supposed to represent but instead of it you should still have that 7000*.07. Now you are left with just a number on the left and you can proceed to solve for x. $$.07(7000)-420.00 = 0.03x$$