Question

Read the excerpt from “Death by Black Hole.”

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, published in 1916, provides the insight to understand the bizarre structure of space and time in a high-gravity environment. Later research by the American physicist John A. Wheeler, and others, helped to formulate a vocabulary as well as the mathematical tools to describe and predict what a black hole will do to its surroundings.

Read the excerpt from “Man Listening to Disc.”

And I bow deeply to Thelonious Monk
for figuring out a way
to motorize—or whatever—his huge piano
so he could be with us today.

These excerpts are similar because both texts
show a connection between math and music.
reference musicians the narrators admire.
make predictions about the future of mankind.
credit people who have inspired the authors.

Answer 1

"credit people who have inspired the authors."

Both excerpts name and acknowledge individuals (Einstein and Wheeler in the first; Thelonious Monk in the second), crediting their influence. The other choices don’t fit both passages.