5.50 Determining the age of an animal can sometimes be a difficult 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 recorded age and canal width in seals of known age. The following data on x 5 age (in years)

and y 5 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):

x 0.25 0.25 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.75 0.75 1.00 y 700 675 525 500 400 350 300 300 x 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.25 1.25 1.50 1.50 y 250 230 150 100 200 100 100 125 x 2.00 2.00 2.50 2.75 3.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 y 60 140 60 50 10 10 10 10 x 5.00 5.00 5.00 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.