Question

select the best evidence to support the statement that the printing press made it cheaper to produce books.

the most famous invention from the renaissance is the one people still use today. the printing press is a machine that speedily makes multiple copies of the same book, newspaper, or picture. before the printing press, books had to be copied by hand, which took a lot of time and was very expensive. the printing press was invented in china between 500 ce and 700 ce. in the 1440s, a german metalworker named johannes gutenberg built the first printing press in europe. he also invented a new way of printing using metal moveable type. each letter and punctuation mark was made out of a tiny piece of metal. to print a page, gutenberg arranged the individual pieces of type in the correct order.

from lisa mullins, science in the renaissance. copyright 2009 by crabtree publishing company

Explanation:

To support the statement that the printing press made book production cheaper, we analyze the text. The key evidence is "Before the printing press, books had to be copied by hand, which took a lot of time and was very expensive." This contrasts the high cost of hand - copying with the likely lower cost of printing - press - produced books. Other parts of the text either describe the printing press's invention, its components, or its general function, but not how it reduced production costs. The comparison between hand - copying (expensive) and the printing press's method implies that the printing press was cheaper.

Answer:

Before the printing press, books had to be copied by hand, which took a lot of time and was very expensive.