confused on how to solve

Question

How much must be deposited today into the following account in order to have $70,000 in 5 years for a down payment on a​ house? Assume no additional deposits are made. An account with monthly compounding and an APR of 5​%

Answer 1

WolframAlpha to the rescue: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=compounding+interest

FV = PV*(1 + i/f)^(f*n)

PV | present value

FV | future value

i | interest rate

n | interest periods

f | compounding frequency

Solving for PV with FV=70000, i=0.05, n=5, f=12

...

PV = 38460