Suppose your firm produces breakfast cereal and needs $140,000$ bushels of corn in December $2020$ for an upcoming promotion. You would like to lock in your costs today because you are concerned that corn prices might rise between now and December. Use Table $23\mathrm{.}1.$

a$.$ What total cost would you effectively be locking in based on the closing price of the day? $($Do not round intermediate calculations and round your answer to the nearest whole number, e$.$g$.,32.)$

b$.$ Suppose corn prices are $$3\mathrm{.}17$ per bushel in December. What is the profit or loss on your futures position? $($Do not round intermediate calculations and enter your answer as a positive value rounded to the nearest whole number, e$.$g$.,32.)$

$\backslash$table$[[$a$.,$Total cost$],[$b$.,]]$