what is the effective annual rate? a) the discount rate for an n - year time interval, when n may be more than one year or less than or equal to one year (a fraction) b) the interest rate that would earn the same interest with annual compounding c) the cash flows from an investment over a one year period divided by the number of times that interest is compounded during the year d) the ratio of the number of the annual percentage rate to the number of compounding periods per year