Compound interest, depreciation and population change, built up one year at a time with a multiplier chain. 16 questions, full answers included.

Worksheet (1 page): each of the first questions shows a chain from Start to Year 3, with the multiplier (such as × 1.03 or × 0.75) written on every step and the first values filled in. The multipliers and values fade until students build the whole chain themselves for savings, a laptop and a town’s population. The page ends with finding when a car is first worth less than £8000 and comparing compound interest with simple interest.

Further practice (1 page): graded by difficulty, with four years of growth, writing the yearly percentage change from multipliers such as 0.93 and 1.125, weekly growth in a bee hive, comparing two savings accounts, how long until a house is worth more than £300 000, and a van that loses 20% in the first year and 10% after that. It finishes with the misconception that a 10% increase followed by a 10% decrease takes you back to the start.

Answers to all 16 questions are included as a separate file.

Suitable for GCSE Foundation and Higher (AQA R16) and for Key Stage 3 classes working on percentages.

AI was used to help create this resource, working from my own lesson design.