“Barnsley, his wife, and a colleague, A.H. Thompson, then gathered statistics on every player in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. The story was the same. More players were born in January than in any other month, and by an overwhelming margin. The second most frequent birth month? February. The third? March." Based on the information in this passage, which month is most likely the least frequent birth month of players in the Ontario Junior Hockey League? (1 point) Responses July July August August November November December

1 answer

Based on the information provided, since the passage states that more players were born in January than in any other month, followed by February and March, it can be inferred that the least frequent birth month among the options provided is likely one of the months after March.

Given the options:

  • July
  • August
  • November
  • December

There is no specific data given about the frequencies of these months, but generally, if January, February, and March account for a high number of players, it is reasonable to deduce that players born in the summer months (July, August) and the late fall/winter months (November, December) will have lower frequencies.

However, since there’s no explicit ranking for the months past March in the data provided, and since it appears there is a diminishing trend in player births past March, any of July, August, November, or December could be a candidate for the least frequent birth month.

Among the months listed, July is a strong candidate because it is farther away from the observed high-frequency months (January, February, March).

Thus, the answer is July.