Alternative dividend policies Over the last $10$ years, a firm has had the earnings per share shown in the following table:

a$.$ If the firm's dividend policy were based on a constant payout ratio of $40\%$ for all years with positive earnings and $0\%$ otherwise, what would be the annual dividend for $2014?$

b$.$ If the firm had a dividend payout of $$1\mathrm{.}00$ per share, increasing by $$0\mathrm{.}10$ per share whenever the dividend payout fell below $50\%$ for two consecutive years, what annual dividend would the firm pay in $2014?$

c$.$ If the firm's policy were to pay $$0\mathrm{.}50$ per share each period except when earnings per share exceed $$3\mathrm{.}00,$ when an extra dividend equal to $80\%$ of earnings beyond $$3\mathrm{.}00$ would be paid, what annual dividend would the firm pay in $2014?$

d$.$ Discuss the pros and cons of each dividend policy described in parts a through $c.$

Data table

$($Click on the icon here p$)$ in order to copy the contents of the data table below. into a spreadsheet.$)$

$\backslash$table$[[$Year$,$Earnings per share,Year,Earnings per share$],[2022,$$$3\mathrm{.}21,2017,$$$2\mathrm{.}88$