A developer has an integer variable called maxAttempts. The developer meeds to ensure that once maxAttempts is initialized, it preserves its value for the lenght of the Apex transaction; while being…

A member variable on the trigger definition would be re-initialized for each separate trigger invocation within a transaction, failing to preserve its value across executions.

A `private static` variable on a helper class would preserve its value and be shared within the transaction, but without the `final` keyword, its value could potentially be modified, which might contradict the intent of 'preserves its value' if it's meant to be a constant.

Declaring a variable as `static final` makes it a constant, meaning its value is initialized once and cannot be changed thereafter, fitting the 'preserves its value' requirement. Being `static`, this constant value is associated with the class, not an instance, ensuring it persists and is shared across all trigger executions and other Apex code within the same transaction.

A non-static member variable on a helper class would require an instance of the class, and its value would not be automatically shared or preserved across independent trigger executions within the same transaction.