Maria has recently inherited $\$ 7600$, which she wants to deposit into an IRA account. She has determined that her two best bets are an account that compounds monthly at an annual rate of $4.3 \%$ (Account 1 ) and an account that compounds semi-annually at an annuat rate of $4.1 \%$ (Account 2 ).

Step 1 of 2: Which account would pay Maria more interest?

Answer 2 Points
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Step 1 ：Define the variables: the principal amount \(P = \$7600\), the annual interest rate for Account 1 \(r1 = 4.3\% = 0.043\), the annual interest rate for Account 2 \(r2 = 4.1\% = 0.041\), the number of times that interest is compounded per year for Account 1 \(n1 = 12\), the number of times that interest is compounded per year for Account 2 \(n2 = 2\), and the time the money is invested for \(t = 1\) year.

Step 2 ：Calculate the future value of the investment in Account 1 using the formula \(FV1 = P \times (1 + r1/n1)^{n1 \times t}\). The future value of Maria's investment in Account 1 is approximately \$7933.32.

Step 3 ：Calculate the future value of the investment in Account 2 using the formula \(FV2 = P \times (1 + r2/n2)^{n2 \times t}\). The future value of Maria's investment in Account 2 is approximately \$7914.79.

Step 4 ：Compare the future values of the investments in both accounts. Since the future value of Maria's investment in Account 1 is greater than the future value of her investment in Account 2, Account 1 would pay Maria more interest.

Step 5 ：The final answer is \(\boxed{\text{Account 1}}\)