Final answer:
At the same rate of 72 records per minute, the clerk can enter 504 customer records in 7 minutes.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a data processing clerk enters 144 customer records in 2 minutes, we can find out how many records they would type in one minute, which is 72 records per minute. Using this rate, we can calculate how many records the clerk can enter in 7 minutes by multiplying the rate by the number of minutes:
72 records/minute × 7 minutes = 504 records
Thus, at the same rate, the clerk can enter 504 customer records in 7 minutes.