We will fill in a chart to organize our information. We will use the simple interest formula to find the interest earned in the different accounts.
The interest on the mixed investment will come from adding the interest from the account earning 3% and the interest from the account earning 5% to get the total interest on the $20,000.
Letx20,000−x==amount invested at 3%.amount invested at 5%
The amount invested is the principal for each account.
We enter the interest rate for each account.
We multiply the amount invested times the rate to get the interest.

Notice that the total amount invested, 20,000, is the sum of the amount invested at 3% and the amount invested at 5%. And the total interest, 0.045(20,000), is the sum of the interest earned in the 3% account and the interest earned in the 5% account.
As with the other mixture applications, the last column in the table gives us the equation to solve.
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| Write the equation from the interest earned. Solve the equation. |
0.03x+0.05(20,000−x)0.03x+1,000−0.05x−0.02x+1,000−0.02xx=====0.045(20,000)900900−1005,000 amount invested at 3% |
| Find the amount invested at 5%. |
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| Check. 0.03x+0.05(15,000+x)150+750900=?=?=0.045(20,000)900900✓ |
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Stacey should invest $5,000 in the account that earns 3% and $15,000 in the account that earns 5%. |