5. What can be inferred from paragraph 9, especially: "Beth shelved her search, but she would occasionally pick it up again when she'd think of a new approach""?

c. in order of atomic number

even though there may be variations in human emotions over time, the poem “ a contribution to statistics” by wislawa symborska suggests that the only unchangeable characteristic is mortality.

the author poses a distinction between the approximate and non-approximate numbers which correspond to our need for certainty in life and the difficulty of achieving it. our efforts to measure the exact often fail because the world is not always clearly structured .the poem seems to imply   that the only thing that is certain and has an exact number is death.  

the answer is:

to persuade readers that a conquering prince must destroy a former republic if he hopes to hold it.

in the excerpt from "the prince," the author niccolò machiavelli suggests that to take possession of a city and endure the control over it, it is necessary to destroy it first. otherwise, people who have known freedom will eventually turn against the new rulers and fight back to recover their power.