Answer: Micheal will earn an interest of $600 in the first year based on nominal interest rates.
Since we need to compute the interest paid out at the end of year 1, we use the following formula in order to find the interest
where
SI = Simple interest
P = Principal or initial amount invested
N = Number of years
R = Nominal interest rate
Nominal interest rate refers to the rate quoted on the CD or the rate agreed upon. In this question, the nominal interest rate is 3%.
Substituting the values in the formula above we get,