Phrase Meaning – Is ‘Five for Ten’ the Same as ‘Five out of Ten’?

To the extent that there is a difference I would say that "make a case" suggests something particularly compelling about your argument, while "present a case" is more of an objective description of what you will do.

In your first example there is an implication that the reader should re-examine the assassination. If "makes" were replaced with "presents" I would not perceive any such implication and would instead interpret the statement as an invitation for me to review the argumentation and come to a conclusion, whatever that conclusion may be.

This is a pretty informal sentiment on my part though. "Present a case" feels more formal to me and is not an expression that I come across very often. "Make a case" is extremely common. However, I may be responding to my sense of their relative usage frequency rather than a real usage difference. Regardless, I don't think that you would cause any confusion at all using either phrase in any situation, or that a listener/reader would draw a substantively different meaning from one or the other.

I've had a bit of deeper look into this. I found a version of the script (not sure how legal or safe that site is, so venture in at your own risk) and the word track is used three times. Two of those times are not the same as the phrase, so the film gives no previous definition of track to go on.

Initially I thought it might be a term related to the film industry, because Al Pacino is playing a failing/failed actor (Simon Axler). But Simon is a stage actor, not a film star, and the only film reference to track I could find was a "tracking shot" and I couldn't easily turn that into a relevant metaphor.

However, the words "does that track with" do appear in similar situations in various books. A few examples:

• Does that track with what you remember of the situation? "Federal Aviation Administration Operations Related to Safety and Procurement Management"
• How does that track with your reality, Mr. Baines? "A Handful of Kings", Mark Jacobs
• Does that track with your experience? "Powerhouse Presenting", Randy Siegel

The last link there, I think, gives us the best interpretation for what Simon means when he asks "How does that track with you?".

To gain agreement, I ask questions such as:
"Does that make sense?" (my favorite)
"Does that track with your experience?"
"Do you see how this could work for you?"

I think this makes it clear that what Simon is asking his psychiatrist is "does this lesbian flirting with me make sense to you?"