When given a large amount of information, it can be more difficult to see patterns and/or to make a conjecture. Sometimes it is helpful to simplify data, as shown in Example 4.

Example 4

Eli is interested in Canadian travel to different countries and found the table below.

  1. Eli would like to make a conjecture about the amount of travel to different countries.

    There are many conjectures that can be made about the amount of travel to different countries. One possibility is to make a conjecture about the most and least visited countries in the list from 2000–2010. The United States received significantly more Canadian visitors than any other country in each year shown, so it is reasonable to conclude that the United States received the most Canadian visitors from 2000–2010.

    The number of visitors to every other country is much closer and so predicting the least visited country from the list may require some more detailed analysis.

    Step 1
    Simplify the data.

    The total number of visitors can be determined for the three years to help make a prediction.

    Step 2
    Use the simplified data to make a conjecture.

    The total number of visitors to Germany was the least in 2000, 2005, and 2010 combined. So, it is reasonable to conjecture that Germany had the fewest visitors from 2000–2010.

  2. Eli would also like to make a conjecture about the expected amount of foreign travel in the year 2015.

    Again, there are multiple conjectures that could be made about travel in the year 2015. One possibility is to make a prediction of whether total Canadian foreign travel will increase or decrease in 2015.

    Step 1
    Simplify the data.

    The total number of travelers can be determined for each of the three years to help make a prediction.

    Step 2
    Use the simplified data to make a conjecture.


    The total amount of foreign travel increased over each time interval, so it is reasonable to expect that the total number of foreign travelers will exceed 25 406 000 in 2015.