Answer:
Case 1 = 5 years
Case 2 = 3.5 years
Explanation:
We calculate the payback as follows,
Case 1
Initial Outlay = $1,750,000
Even cash flow = $350,000
Payback = 1,750,000 / 350,000 = 5 years
Case 2
Initial Outlay = $1,750,000
we subtract each cash flow from the outlay until we get 0.
Payback
= 1750000 - 275,000 = $1,475,000 = + 1 year
= 1475000 - 420000 = $1,055,000 = + 1 year
= 1055000 - 820000 = $235,000 = + 1 year
Since next year we have cash flows of $470,000 we see the cover for remaining outlay of $235,000 by,
235,000/470000 = + 0.5 year
we compute total years by adding
Payback = 1 + 1 + 1 + 0.5 = 3.5 years
Hope that helps.