16Hit1600
Information and IdeasMediumSelect quotation showing data driving a decision

Information and Ideas practice question

Dolores Ibáñez has run the Rosewater Bakery on Quarry Street for eleven years. She keeps a spiral notebook beside the register, and in it she records not only how many loaves she sells each day but how many are still on the shelf at closing. "Anybody can guess," she says. "The notebook doesn't guess." Her Thursday tally of seeded rye climbed for four straight weeks last spring; by the fifth week she was mixing an extra batch on Wednesday night. Customers sometimes tell her which breads they like best. She listens, she says, and then she checks the notebook.

A student claims that Ibáñez relies on her written sales records when deciding how much of a given bread to produce. Which quotation from the text best supports the student's claim?

  1. A. "She keeps a spiral notebook beside the register."
  2. B. "Anybody can guess. The notebook doesn't guess."
  3. C. "Her Thursday tally of seeded rye climbed for four straight weeks last spring; by the fifth week she was mixing an extra batch on Wednesday night."Correct
  4. D. "Customers sometimes tell her which breads they like best."

Answer: C. "Her Thursday tally of seeded rye climbed for four straight weeks last spring; by the fifth week she was mixing an extra batch on Wednesday night."

The claim requires both a recorded figure and a production decision that follows from it. Choice C supplies both: a rising four-week tally of seeded rye leads directly to an added batch. Choice A establishes only that she keeps records; it says nothing about using them to set production. Choice B states her general opinion about the reliability of records, an attitude rather than an instance of a decision being made. Choice D describes a source of information other than the notebook and does not report any action she takes in response.

Why the other answers are wrong

A. "She keeps a spiral notebook beside the register."
This shows only that the notebook exists and where she keeps it; the claim requires that she act on what's recorded in it when setting production.
B. "Anybody can guess. The notebook doesn't guess."
This is Ibáñez's general attitude about the reliability of records, not an instance of her using a record to decide how much bread to make.
D. "Customers sometimes tell her which breads they like best."
This describes a source of information other than the notebook, and it reports no production decision she makes in response.

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