A manufacturing plant is deciding whether to purchase a new machine for a cost of $1 million. The cash flows that the machine will bring in are $570,000 in the first year, $600,000 in the second year, and $500,000 in the third year (and no further cash flows). Assume that the discount rate is 20%

a) Calculate the net present value of this project (machine purchase). Write out your equation(s) clearly and show your input(s). Make sure to provide the math equation instead of an Excel built-in formula output.

b) State whether the firm should buy this machine based on the NPV rule and briefly explain why.