The average customer for a certain utility company pays 120 dollars per month for utilities. The company plans to decrease utility bills by 3 percent each year for the next five years. Which of the following can be used to determine the total amount an average customer will pay for utilities during the next five years?

Each year, the bill is 97% of the previous year’s bill, so the yearly amounts are multiplied by the same ratio, 0.97. The total paid over five years is therefore a geometric series (whether using monthly bills or yearly totals). The correct choice is “a geometric series.”

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