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Simple interest worksheets

Interest is just a percent of a sum, taken once a year. These free printable worksheets ask for the interest earned — principal, rate and time — with I = Prt, and every answer lands on a whole number.

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Simple interest
Simple interest worksheet — Whole-number interest, I = Prt, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

The sum asked for is the INTEREST, not the new balance, because that is the part the standard is about and the part a child gets wrong. Finding 4% of $500 is the easy step; knowing the answer is $60 of interest — not $560 owed — is the one the question is really testing. Reading it back as “the interest” rather than “the total” is the habit these pages build.

Why this sheet works

One year first, then the years. The interest for a single year is the rate as a percent of the principal, worked the 1%-first way every percent sheet here uses; then it is multiplied by how many years the sum is held. Splitting it in two is what keeps I = Prt from being a formula a child plugs into without seeing what each letter does.

How this one works

One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.

$4980 earns 25% simple interest a year.

4980÷ 100 =49.8
49.8×25=1245
  1. Find one percent of $4980 first: 4980 ÷ 100 = 49.8.
  2. 25% is 25 of those, so one year's interest is 49.8 × 25 = $1245. It runs for one year, so that is the interest: $1245.

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