Marie Curie took out a mortgage of $347,000 three years ago to buy an apartment. The terms of the loan stipulated that monthly repayments were to be made over 30 years, with the first payment one month after taking out the loan. She has just made her 36th payment. The interest rate was 5.147% p.a. compounded semi-annually. These conditions were locked for seven years. Should Marie want to break the contract she would have to pay a penalty equal to four months of payments. Interest rates have now dropped to 4.147% p.a. compounded semi-annually.

a. Should Marie break the contract? All supporting calculations.

b. Who is/was Marie Curie?