Tow rates are equivalent if tow initial investments over a the same time, produce the same final value using different interest rates.
For the annually rate we have that:
![V_{0} =(1+ i_{a} ) ^{1}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20V_%7B0%7D%20%3D%281%2B%20i_%7Ba%7D%20%29%20%5E%7B1%7D%20)
Where
![V_{0}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20V_%7B0%7D)
= initial investment.
![i_{a}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20i_%7Ba%7D%20)
= annually interest rate in decimal form.
And the exponent (1) represents the full year.
For the quarterly interest rate we have that:
![V_{0} =(1+ i_{q} ) ^{4}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20V_%7B0%7D%20%3D%281%2B%20i_%7Bq%7D%20%29%20%5E%7B4%7D%20)
Where
![V_{0}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20V_%7B0%7D)
= initial investment.
![i_{q}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20i_%7Bq%7D)
= quarterly interest rate in decimal form.
And the exponent (4) the 4 quarters in the full year.
Since the rates are equivalent if tow initial investments over a the same time, produce the same final value, then
![(1+ i_{a} )=(1+ i_{q} ) ^{4}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%281%2B%20i_%7Ba%7D%20%29%3D%281%2B%20i_%7Bq%7D%20%29%20%5E%7B4%7D%20)
Notice that we are not using the initial investment
![V_{0}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20V_%7B0%7D%20)
since they are the same.
The first thin we are going to to calculate the equivalent quarterly rate of the 7% annually rate is converting 7% to decimal form
7%/100 = 0.07
Now, we can replace the value in our equation to get:
![(1+0.07)=(1+ i_{q} ) ^{4}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%281%2B0.07%29%3D%281%2B%20i_%7Bq%7D%20%29%20%5E%7B4%7D%20)
![1.07=(1+ i_{q} ) ^{4}](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=1.07%3D%281%2B%20i_%7Bq%7D%20%29%20%5E%7B4%7D%20)
![i_{q} = \sqrt[4]{1.07} -1](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20i_%7Bq%7D%20%3D%20%5Csqrt%5B4%5D%7B1.07%7D%20-1)
![i_{q} =0.017](https://tex.z-dn.net/?f=%20i_%7Bq%7D%20%3D0.017)
Finally, we multiply the quarterly interest rate in decimal form by 100% to get:
(0.017)(100%) = 1.7%
We can conclude that Alexander is wrong, the equivalent quarterly rate of an annually rate of 7% is 1.7% and not 2%.