Your teacher will review your response in order to ensure you receive proper credit for your answer. What does the author achieve by mixing exact and approximate numbers in "A Contribution to Statistics?" Select the link to access the Short Answer Rubric.
As an AI language model, I cannot access external sources or select links. However, I can provide you with some information on what the author might achieve by mixing exact and approximate numbers in the poem "A Contribution to Statistics" by Wislawa Szymborska.
By mixing exact and approximate numbers in the poem, the author achieves several effects:
1. Realism: The use of exact numbers creates a sense of precision and accuracy, giving weight to the statistics mentioned. This contributes to the poem's overall theme of dealing with cold, hard facts and statistics that represent humanity's achievements and atrocities.
2. Ethical Reminder: By contrasting the exact numbers with approximate or rounded figures, the author highlights the limitations and inadequacy of statistics in capturing the full extent of human suffering and the complexity of historical events. This reminds readers not to reduce people's lives, experiences, or tragedies to mere numbers.
3. Emotional Impact: The use of approximate numbers can evoke a sense of emotional and empathetic response from the reader. For example, the phrase "enough bulbs for nonstop mourning" implies an immense loss and the graveyard's overwhelming scale, which amplifies the emotional impact of the statistic.
4. Satirical Tone: By mixing exact and approximate numbers, the author criticizes how numbers can be used to manipulate or diminish the significance of human suffering. The use of approximate numbers shows the superficiality of statistics, challenging the notion that quantifying tragedies offers a complete understanding of their impact.
Remember, this analysis is based on the poem "A Contribution to Statistics" by Wislawa Szymborska, but having access to the poem itself would provide a more accurate and comprehensive response.