Let's break down the problem step by step to determine what percentage of Sonja's payments so far have gone to paying interest.
1. Understanding the Table Data:
- We are given a table showing Sonja's credit card activity for the last 7 months.
- For each month, we have values for Previous Balance, New Charges, Payment Received, Finance Charges, Principal Paid, and New Balance.
2. Total Payments Received:
- We need to find the sum of all payments received over the given months.
- The payments received are [tex]\(\$14.00, \$13.97, \$13.93, \$13.90, \$13.86, \text{ and } \$13.83\)[/tex].
[tex]\[
\text{Total Payments Received} = 14.00 + 13.97 + 13.93 + 13.90 + 13.86 + 13.83 = 83.49
\][/tex]
3. Total Finance Charges:
- We need to find the sum of all finance charges over the given months.
- The finance charges are [tex]\(\$12.25, \$12.22, \$12.19, \$12.16, \$12.13, \text{ and } \$12.10\)[/tex].
[tex]\[
\text{Total Finance Charges} = 12.25 + 12.22 + 12.19 + 12.16 + 12.13 + 12.10 = 73.05
\][/tex]
4. Percentage of Payments That Went to Interest:
- The interest payments are represented by the finance charges, and we want to find out what percentage of the total payments received represents this interest.
- The formula to calculate the percentage of payments that went to interest is:
[tex]\[
\text{Percentage Interest} = \left( \frac{\text{Total Finance Charges}}{\text{Total Payments Received}} \right) \times 100
\][/tex]
Substituting the values we obtained:
[tex]\[
\text{Percentage Interest} = \left( \frac{73.05}{83.49} \right) \times 100 \approx 87.50\%
\][/tex]
5. Choosing the Closest Answer:
- The closest option to [tex]\(87.50\%\)[/tex] is [tex]\(87\%\)[/tex].
Therefore, about [tex]\(87\%\)[/tex] of Sonja's payments so far have gone to paying interest. The correct answer is:
[tex]\[ \boxed{87\%} \][/tex]
