Graphing Techniques
Data Time (s) Trial 1 (m) Trial 2 (m) Trial 3 (m) Trail 4 (m) 1.0 1.9 1.8 2.0 2.1 7.8 7.9 8.2 8.1 3.0 17.5 18.1 18.2 17.7 4.0 31.0 32.5 33.5 30.5
Scatter Plot
Curve Fitting with Error Bars
Is It Really Quadratic?
Or Is It Linear?
Quadratic Transformed to Linear
Most Common Best Fit Linear (Direct or Indirect) Quadratic Inverse Inverse Square All four can be “converted” to linear for comparison using the values indicated.
Direct X Y 1 3 2 5 7 4 9
Indirect X Y 1 9 2 7 3 5 4
Quadratic (Square) X Y 1 10 2 40 3 90 4 160
Inverse X Y 1 100 2 50 3 33.3 4 25
Inverse Square X Y 1 100 2 25 3 11.1 4 6.25
Other Functions Relationship Graph
Multiple Variables Investigate one variable at a time using a power best fit Combine the equations to find the single equation for the situation
Extrapolate vs. Interpolate
Manual Best Fit Line