Question

ms. sutton recorded the word counts and scores of the top ten essays in a timed writing contest. the table shows her data. winning essay length essay rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 essay score 9.7 9.5 8.6 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.5 8.4 8.2 7.0 word count 324 352 337 318 290 304 290 201 278 260 how does the word count of an essay relate to its score in the contest? word count tends to decrease as the score decreases. word count tends to remain constant as the score decreases. word count has no apparent relationship to the score of the essay

Explanation:

Step1: List score and word count pairs

Scores (descending): 9.7,9.6,9.5,9.0,8.5,8.4,8.2,8.0,8.0,7.0
Word counts: 324,337,352,318,290,291,278,299,304,250

Step2: Analyze trend

Word counts fluctuate (324→337↑→352↑→318↓→290↓→291↑→278↓→299↑→304↑→250↓) with no consistent pattern as scores decrease.

Answer:

D. Word count has no apparent relationship to the score of the essay