Apples, Oranges, and Interest Rates

How many times have you heard the expression, Don't compare apples and oranges? I'm sure that your mathematics teacher has used it many times in the classroom when you have compared objects that should not be compared. Whenever you compare two objects, first decide what you are going to use as a criterion for comparison.

After all, apples and oranges have different shapes, their colors are different, their juices are different, their seeds are different, etc. The purpose of this Pull-Out Section is to look at different ways that mathematics can be used to compare objects, with a primary emphasis placed on ways of comparing rates of interest.