Oil prices have increased a great deal in the last decade. The following table shows the average oil price for each year since $1949.$ Many companies use oil products as a resource in their own business operations $($like dirline firms and manufacturers of plastic products$).$ Managers of these firms will keep a close watch on how rising oil prices will impact their costs. The interest rate in the PV$/$FV equations can also be interpreted as a growth rate in sales, costs, profits, and so on$.$

$\backslash$table$[[$Average Oil Prices$],[$Year$,$per barrel,Year,per barrel,Year,per barrel,Year,per barrel$],[1949,$$$2\mathrm{.}54,1969,$$$3\mathrm{.}09,1989,$$$15\mathrm{.}86,2009,$$$53\mathrm{.}48$