A typical combine harvester sells for $500,000. If the value of the combine depreciates 5.41% each year, how many years will it take to lose half of it's value?
Round your answer to the nearest whole number of years.

13 years

Step-by-step explanation:

Initial value = $500000Depreciation rate = 5.41% each yearTarget value = 1/2*$500000 = $250000Number of years = x

Depreciation can be expressed as function:

d(x) = 500000*((100 - 5.41)/100)^xd(x) = 500000*0.9459^x

Having the final value of $250000, we can find x:

250000 = 500000*0.9459^x0.5 = 0.9459^xlog 0.5 = x log 0.9459x =  log 0.5 / log 0.9459x = 12.46 ≈ 13 years rounded