For 22 consecutive weeks (Weeks 1-22) of last year, the graph gives weekly ticket sales rankings for each of 4...

Owning The Dataset

Table 1: Text Analysis

Table 2: Chart Analysis

Key Insights

1. Only weeks 4–18 feature all four movies together; that 15-week stretch is the best comparison period.
2. Movie O never achieves the highest or lowest ranking among the four during the overlap—it is always in the middle two positions for those weeks.
3. The ranking system is inverted: lower numbers are better (Rank 1 means highest ticket sales), so careful attention is needed when interpreting chart trends.
4. Rankings are relative to all movies in theaters, not just these four, so performance reflects broader market competition.

Step-by-Step Solution

Question 1: Identifying Movies That Never Had the Least Ticket Sales

Complete Statement:

For each of the weeks that all 4 movies were shown in theaters, exactly ______ never had the least ticket sales among the 4 movies.

Breaking Down the Statement

Statement Breakdown 1:

• Key Phrase: weeks that all 4 movies were shown in theaters
  • Meaning: We need to consider only the weeks when all four movies (M, N, O, and P) appeared on the rankings.
  • Relation to Chart: On the ranking chart, this is the period where all four movie lines are present—weeks 4 through 18.
  • Important Implications: The analysis for blanks 1 and 2 is restricted to weeks 4 through 18 only.

Statement Breakdown 2:

• Key Phrase: never had the least ticket sales
  • Meaning: We are looking for movies that did not have the worst ranking (i.e., the highest ranking number, since a higher number means fewer tickets sold) in any of these weeks.
  • Relation to Chart: A movie with the highest ranking value among the four in any week would have had the least sales in that week.
  • Important Implications: If a movie never had the highest ranking value among the four during weeks 4-18, it never had the least ticket sales.

What is needed: The number of movies that, during weeks 4-18, never ranked worst (i.e., never had the highest ranking number) among the four movies.

Solution:

• Condensed Solution Implementation:
  Go through each week (weeks 4-18), determine which movie had the highest ranking value (worst sales), and tally which movies appeared in that position. Then, identify which, if any, movie(s) never appeared as worst.
• Necessary Data points:
  A list of the four movies' ranks for each week from week 4 to week 18. For each week, the movie with the highest rank among the four is noted as having the least ticket sales.
  • Calculations Estimations:
    After tabulating each week's worst-performing movie among the four, we find: Movie M holds worst in weeks 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18; Movie N in weeks 6, 8, 9, 10, 12; Movie P in weeks 4, 5, 7; Movie O is never the worst in any week.
  • Comparison to Answer Choices:
    Only Movie O never had the least ticket sales in weeks 4-18. Therefore, the answer is 1.

FINAL ANSWER Blank 1: 1

Question 2: Identifying Movies That Never Had the Greatest Ticket Sales

Complete Statement:

and exactly ______ of the 4 movies never had the greatest ticket sales among the 4 movies.

Breaking Down the Statement

Statement Breakdown 1:

• Key Phrase: never had the greatest ticket sales
  • Meaning: We want to find movies that were never the best among the four in terms of weekly ticket sales.
  • Relation to Chart: On the ranking chart, this is the movie with the lowest ranking value (most tickets sold) among the four each week.

Statement Breakdown 2:

• Key Phrase: among the 4 movies
  • Meaning: The comparison is always between these four movies for each relevant week.
  • Relation to Chart: Analysis is again restricted to the weeks when all four are present: weeks 4 through 18.

What is needed: How many movies never ranked best (i.e., had the lowest ranking number) among the four in any of weeks 4 through 18.

Solution:

• Condensed Solution Implementation:
  For each week (weeks 4-18), identify which movie had the lowest ranking among the four. Tabulate this by movie and see which, if any, movie(s) never appear as the best.
• Necessary Data points:
  Each week's rankings for the four movies; highlight the lowest value (best sales) per week and record the winner.
  • Calculations Estimations:
    From week-by-week tabulation: Movie M is best in weeks 5-9; Movie N is best in weeks 4, 15, 16, 18; Movie P is best in weeks 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, and shares some ties; Movie O is never the best in any week.
  • Comparison to Answer Choices:
    O is the only movie never to have the best ranking during weeks 4-18. So, the answer is 1.

FINAL ANSWER Blank 2: 1

Summary

In both cases, only Movie O never had either the worst or best ranking among the four movies during the period when all four were showing (weeks 4-18). O was always in the middle, demonstrating consistent but not extreme performance in the weekly rankings.

Question Independence Analysis

The two questions are independent in that each addresses an opposite extreme (worst vs best), but both are focused on the same period (weeks 4-18) and ultimately hinge on the unique mid-level consistency of Movie O.