The Wildcat Oil Company is trying to decide whether to lease or buy a new computer$-$

assisted drilling system for its oil exploration business. Management has decided that it

must use the system to stay competitive; it will provide $$2\mathrm{.}9$ million in annual pretax cost

savings. The system costs $$7\mathrm{.}7$ million and will be depreciated straight$-$line to zero over $5$

years. Wildcat's tax rate is $21$ percent, and the firm can borrow at $6$ percent. Lambert

Leasing Company has offered to lease the drilling equipment to Wildcat for payments of

$$1\mathrm{.}76$ million per year. Lambert's policy is to require its lessees to make payments at the

start of the year.

a$.$ What is the NAL for Wildcat? $($A negative answer should be indicated by a minus

sign. Do not round intermediate calculations and enter your answer in dollars, not

millions of dollars, rounded to $2$ decimal places, e$.$g$.,1,234,567\mathrm{.}89.)$

b$.$ What is the maximum lease payment that would be acceptable to the company? $($Do

not round intermediate calculations and enter your answer in dollars, not millions

of dollars, rounded to $2$ decimal places, e$.$g$.,1,234,567\mathrm{.}89.)$