The London School of Economics and the Harvard Business School have conducted studies of how chief executive officers (CEOs) spend their time. These studies have found that CEOs spend many hours per week in meetings that include conference calls, business meals, and public events. Suppose that the data below show the time spent per week in meetings (hours) for a sample of 25 CEOs. 14 15 18 23 15 19 20 13 15 23 23 21 15 20 21 16 15 18 18 19 19 22 23 21 12

(a) What is the least amount of time spent per week on meetings?

You are the manager of a large crude-oil refinery. as part of the refining process, a certain heat exchanger (operated at high temperatures and with abrasive material flowing through it) must be replaced every year. the replacement and downtime cost in the first year is $165 comma 000. this cost is expected to increase due to inflation at a rate of 7% per year for six years (i. e. until the eoy 7), at which time this particular heat exchanger will no longer be needed. if the company's cost of capital is 15% per year, how much could you afford to spend for a higher quality heat exchanger so that these annual replacement and downtime costs could be eliminated?