Analysts at the Milk Company calculated the average price of a gallon of its milk over 10 years. The following table shows the years since 2010 and the average price of a gallon of milk at that time.

Question

Years (since 2010) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Price (in dollars) 3.16 3.43 3.37 3.36 3.42 3.21 3.24 3.01 2.85 3.05

Which of the following representations is most appropriate for showing how the price changed each year?
line graph titled gallon of milk, with the x axis labeled years since 2010 and the y axis labeled price in dollars with points at 0 comma 3.16, 1 comma 3.43, 2 comma 3.37, 3 comma 3.36, 4 comma 3.42, 5 comma 3.21, 6 comma 3.24, 7 comma 3.01, 8 comma 2.85, and 9 comma 3.05
scatter plot titled gallon of milk, with the x axis labeled years since 2010 and the y axis labeled price in dollars with points at 0 comma 3.16, 1 comma 3.43, 2 comma 3.37, 3 comma 3.36, 4 comma 3.42, 5 comma 3.21, 6 comma 3.24, 7 comma 3.01, 8 comma 2.85, and 9 comma 3.05
scatter plot titled gallon of milk, with the y axis labeled years since 2010 and the x axis labeled price in dollars with points at 3.16 comma 0, 3.43 comma 1, 3.37 comma 2, 3.36 comma 3, 3.42 comma 4, 3.21 comma 5, 3.24 comma 6, 3.01 comma 7, 2.85 comma 8, and 3.05 comma 9
line graph titled gallon of milk, with the y axis labeled years since 2010 and the x axis labeled price in dollars with points at 3.16 comma 0, 3.43 comma 1, 3.37 comma 2, 3.36 comma 3, 3.42 comma 4, 3.21 comma 5, 3.24 comma 6, 3.01 comma 7, 2.85 comma 8, and 3.05 comma 9

Answer 1

The most appropriate representation for showing how the price of a gallon of milk changed each year is:

Line graph titled gallon of milk, with the x-axis labeled years since 2010 and the y-axis labeled price in dollars with points at (0, 3.16), (1, 3.43), (2, 3.37), (3, 3.36), (4, 3.42), (5, 3.21), (6, 3.24), (7, 3.01), (8, 2.85), and (9, 3.05).

A line graph is suitable for this data because it allows for a clear visualization of the trend in prices over time, making it easy to see how the price fluctuated each year.