Video Transcript
Which of the following graphs
correctly shows the distances and times in the table? (A) or (B).
A table is a useful way to record
data, but a graph is a more useful way to see data trends. Recall that to plot data onto a
graph, we find each time value on the horizontal axis and then move upward to find
the corresponding distance value on the vertical axis. For this example, we will start by
adding a point at the start with a time of zero seconds and a distance of zero
meters. We place this point at the origin
of the graph, as shown here. Then, we’ll move along the table to
the second plot point that has a time of one second and a distance of zero meters
and add that to the graph. Repeat this process for the next
plot point, which has a time of two seconds and a distance of zero meters, then
again for the next plot point of three seconds and 10 meters, and the final plot
point of four seconds and 20 meters.
We can see that the first answer
choice matches the plot we made, so (A) must be the answer. It’s important to understand that
there can repeatedly be the same value on the vertical axis for different values on
the horizontal axis. The vertical axis represents
distance, and the horizontal axis represents time. If an object does not move in some
time interval, for all the values of time in that interval, the value of distance
will not change.
