GRAPHING

A “PICTURE” OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES

• VARIABLES

X – AXIS: INDEPENDENT

Y – AXIS: DEPENDENT

TYPES OF GRAPHS

• BAR GRAPH

• HISTOGRAM

• PIE GRAPH/CHART

• PICTOGRAM

• SCATTERPLOT

• LINE GRAPH

• FOR A LINE GRAPH

DO A SCATTERPLOT FIRST

DRAW A BEST FIT LINE OR CURVE

LOOK AT THE DATA AND

DECIDE WHETHER THE DATA

OVERALL IS IN A LINE OR A

CURVE

DON’T PLAY CONNECT THE DOTS

LINE GRAPH RELATIONSHIPS

• LINEAR (DIRECT)

–THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DOES THE SAME AS THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

–EX: IF INDEPENDENT VARIABLE INCREASES BY 2 UNITS, SO WILL THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

LINEAR

• INVERSE (INDIRECT)

–THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DOES THE OPPOSITE OF THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

–EX: AS THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE INCREASES, THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE DECREASES

INVERSE

COMPONENTS NEEDED FOR A GRAPH

• AXIS SCALES (NUMBERS) EVENLY SPACED, BE SURE ALL DATA POINTS CAN FIT ON THE GRAPH

• AXIS LABELS (QUANTITY AND UNIT)– EX: TIME (s) HEIGHT (cm)

• POINTS PLOTTED • BEST FIT LINE OR CURVE• TITLE (DEPENDENT vs. INDEPENDENT)