Determining the age of an animal can sometimes be a dif fi cult task. One method of estimating the age of harp seals is based on the width of the pulp canal in the seal’s canine teeth. To investigate the relationship between age and the width of the pulp canal, researchers measured age and canal width in seals of known age. The following data on x age (in years) and y canal length

(in millimeters) are a portion of a larger data set that appeared in the paper “Validation of Age Estimation in the Harp Seal Using Dentinal Annuli” (Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science [1983]:

1430–1441):

6.00 6.00 y 15 10 10 15 10 Construct a scatterplot for this data set. Would you describe the relationship between age and canal length as linear? If not, suggest a transformation that might straighten the plot.