Maria sold 50 books, or 40% of her book collection at a yard sale. How many books were in Maria's collection?

b. 6

step-by-step explanation:

we are given the table representing an exponential function.

we can see from the table that, as x is increasing, the value of y is increasing in the power of 6.

i.e. the following relation is obtained,

x = 1, y = 6

x = 2, y = 36 =

x = 3, y = 216 =

x = 4, y = 1296 =

x = 5, y = 7776 =

so, the geometric series obtained is .

thus, the common ratio is given by = = 6.

hence, the common ratio is 6.