The article "The Largest Last Supper: Depictions of Food Portions and Plate Size Increase Over the Millennium"
(International Journal of Obesity [2010]: 1-2) describes a study in which each painting in a sample of 52 paintings of $T h e$ Last Supper was analyzed by comparing the size of the food plates in the painting to the head sizes of the people in the painting. For paintings that were painted prior to the year $1500,$ the estimated average plate-to-head size ratio was smaller than this ratio for the paintings that were painted after the year $1500 .$ Is the inference made one that involves estimation or one that involves hypothesis testing?