To find the unit rate, we need to determine how many words Jesse read per minute. We can calculate this by dividing the total number of words by the total time in minutes.
Jesse read 720 words in 4 minutes.
So, we calculate:
\[ \text{Unit rate} = \frac{720 \text{ words}}{4 \text{ minutes}} = 180 \text{ words per minute} \]
Thus, Jesse's reading rate is 180 words per minute.