Imagine getting a bill for $$125$ billion that did not know you owed. The case involves a real$-$

world situation. That actually happened to the residents, called $$burghers$,$ of the town of Ticino,

Switzerland. The New York Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York, ordered Ticino to pay a group of

American investors. The investors had sued in the Brooklyn court over a loss they claimed in connection

with the failure $27$ years earlier of Inter Change Bank, a tiny bank in Ticino. The burghers had known

about the suit, but thought the matter was trivial, and were naturally stunned by the bill. Their lead

lawyer quipped that $$if the judgment was upheld by the higher courts, all of Ticino$$s citizens would have

to spend the rest of their lives flipping real burgers $($the kind you eat$)$ at McDonald$$s and Burger King to

pay off the debt.$$

The root of Ticino$$s problem was a deposit made $28$ years ago, one year before the bank failed.

The estate of one Sterling Granville Higgins deposited $$600$ million of options on Venezuelan oil and

mineral deposits in the Inter Change Bank. The bank agreed to pay an interest rate of $1\%$ per week. $($No

wonder the bank failed the next year!$)$ The Brooklyn court ruled that Ticino had to pay $1\%$ interest per

week compounded weekly for the $7$ years between the date of deposit and the date Ticino had the bank

liquidated and interest at the rate of $8\mathrm{.}54\%$ APY for the remaining $21$ years since the bank$$s liquidation.

Case Questions: Excel Formulas Needed and Solution

$1.$ The $$125$ billion reported in the press was rounded, but the original amount was precisely $$600$

million. Assuming the time periods are exactly seven years at a periodic interest rate of $1\%$ per week

and exactly $21$ years at $8\mathrm{.}54\%$ APY, how much was the bill to the nearest dollar?