Simon Companys year-end balance sheets follow.

At December 31	Current Year	1 Year Ago	2 Years Ago
Assets
Cash	$ 35,439	$ 41,425	$ 43,591
Accounts receivable, net	89,900	62,200	51,700
Merchandise inventory	112,000	83,500	58,000
Prepaid expenses	11,413	10,874	4,843
Plant assets, net	364,165	330,378	291,166
Total assets	$ 612,917	$ 528,377	$ 449,300
Liabilities and Equity
Accounts payable	$ 149,564	$ 87,510	$ 58,121
Long-term notes payable	112,924	119,096	97,309
Common stock, $10 par value	162,500	162,500	162,500
Retained earnings	187,929	159,271	131,370
Total liabilities and equity	$ 612,917	$ 528,377	$ 449,300

The companys income statements for the current year and one year ago follow. Assume that all sales are on credit:

For Year Ended December 31	Current Year		1 Year Ago
Sales		$ 796,792		$ 628,769
Cost of goods sold	$ 486,043		$ 408,700
Other operating expenses	247,006		159,079
Interest expense	13,545		14,462
Income tax expense	10,358		9,432
Total costs and expenses		756,952		591,673
Net income		$ 39,840		$ 37,096
Earnings per share		$ 2.45		$ 2.28

(4-a) Compute days' sales in inventory. (4-b) For each ratio, determine if it improved or worsened in the current year.