Eastern Airlines hedged the cost of jet fuel by purchasing

options that allowed the airline to buy fuel at a fixed price

for $2$ years. The savings in fuel costs were $$140,000$ in

month $1,$ $$141,400$ in month $2,$ and amounts increasing

by $1\%$ per month through the $2-$year option period. What

was the present worth of the savings at an interest rate of

$18\%$ per year compounded monthly?