This week I learned how to interpret graphs, as well as how to determine a function based on a graph.
Here are a few key things to keep in mind when looking at a graph:
- When the line is increasing in height, the y value is increasing, and the opposite is true when the line is decreasing in height.
- The rate at which the y value changes is shown through the steepness of the line (steeper = increasing faster, shallower = increasing slower, horizontal = not increasing)
Here is an example of a graph:
Based on my example, it can be determined that:
- The green line is the shallowest line, meaning the y axis increased at the slowest rate throughout that duration (not including the horizontal line)
- The purple line is horizontal, meaning that the y axis did not increase at all
- The pink line is the steepest line, meaning that the y axis decreased at the fastest rate
If we were to give a function to this graph, for example f(6), the answer would be 5. This is because when you have a function like this, you look at the y axis and determine at what point the line is when the x axis (or input value) equals 6.