1. Research two different potential investments in an asset or machinery related to your specific engineering discipline (e.g., concrete 3D printers for civil engineers, diesel engines for mechanical engineers, and supercomputers for computer engineers) and collect the needed data for the investment through either online search or phone calls. Estimate, analyze, and/or compare the different alternatives based on the following:

1) Initial cost (visit company websites or talk to vendors/suppliers to get email unofficial quotes).

2) Useful life of the asset (visit companies websites or request technical specifications from vendors/suppliers).

3) Operation and maintenance costs (annual or monthly). 4) Visit the website of a local bank to collect information on how to finance an equipment

purchase and based on the information, calculate the finance cost of the investment.

Discuss the difference between the Flat and Reducing (Diminishing) interest rates. 5) Use MS Excel to calculate the present worth, annual worth and internal rate of return of

each investment using an interest rate of 12%. 6) Compare the two investments and recommend the best one. 7) RepeatSteps#5and#6usinganinterestrateof14%.Willadifferentinterestratechange

your conclusion (Discuss)? 8) Discuss the differences between Islamic Bank (Murabaha) and regular finance. 9) Discuss means to improve the return of these investments.

Note: Gathering the following information needed is the responsibility of the student groups and is an important part of the learning process. The requested data is unofficial and the vendors need to know it is for educational purposes. So the information can be approximate and not necessarily the exact pricing that these vendors are providing. To achieve that, the students are encouraged to explore companies websites, talk to vendors/suppliers/ financial institutions, request email quote(s) and technical specification(s) from the vendors/suppliers/financial institutions etc. Most importantly, save these transcripts (e.g., email copies) and attach it along with the submission as references and records.