James Watson’s discovery of the base pairings in the DNA helix was a result of trial and error. He discovered that adenine pairs with thymine and that guanine pairs with cytosine after he continually attempted to align models of the bases in other combinations. Which best describes how this example illustrates creativity? Watson’s trial-and-error approach shows that he had run out of other ideas to try in searching for the answer.

Watson’s trial-and-error approach shows that he was using the process of elimination to solve his base pair problem.

Watson’s trial-and-error approach shows that he preferred to guess rather than apply logic to the problem.

Watson’s trial-and-error approach shows that he was willing to consider multiple base-pair arrangements as possible answers.