Question

read the following excerpt from levitt and dubner’s freakonomics. so what do the bagel data have to say? in recent years, there have been two noteworthy trends in the overall payment rate. the first was a long, slow decline that began in 1992. by the summer of 2001, the overall rate had slipped to about 87 percent. but immediately after september 11 of that year the rate spiked a full 2 percent and hasn’t slipped much since. (a 2 percent gain in payment doesn’t sound like much, but think of it this way: the nonpayment rate fell from 13 to 11 percent, which amounts to a 15 percent decline in theft.) because many of feldman’s customers are affiliated with national security, there may have been a patriotic element to the 9/11 effect. or it may have represented a more general surge in empathy. the excerpt serves as which type of support for the argument? a claim a counterclaim evidence an umbrella statement

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the context of the excerpt:

• The excerpt presents data (payment rates, declines/increases in percentages) related to customers’ behavior and economic factors (national security, EMsa, etc.). It’s using data to show trends, which aligns with statistics (subfield of Mathematics) as it involves analyzing, interpreting, and presenting numerical data (rates, percentages) to draw conclusions about trends in payment behavior.

Step-by-Step Explanation:

Step 1: Identify the Discipline/Subfield

The problem involves analyzing numerical data (payment rates, percentage changes) to understand trends. This falls under Statistics (Mathematics subfield), as statistics deals with data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation.

Step 2: Justify the Choice

The excerpt uses percentages (e.g., “87 percent”, “2 percent gain”, “15 percent decline”) to describe changes in payment rates over time. Statistics is the subfield that focuses on such data-driven analysis of trends, patterns, and relationships in numerical information. Other subfields (e.g., Algebra, Calculus) don’t focus on data interpretation/trends, while Natural Science/Business subfields here are less direct than Statistics for this data-focused analysis.

Answer:

The subfield is Statistics (under Mathematics).