1. Mr. Bernstein Section 1 Appendix: Graphs in Economics September 2017
AP Economics
Mr. Bernstein
Section 1 Appendix: Graphs in Economics
September 2017

2. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Plotting Points on a Two-Variable Graph
Horizontal axis is X-axis
Vertical axis is Y-axis
Origin is where axes meet, variables = zero
X-axis is the independent variable
Y-axis is the dependent variable
Example: Temperature and soda sales

3. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Curves on a Graph
Linear Relationship
Positive Relationship
Negative Relationship
Examples: Temperature and soda sold, Temperature and Hot Chocolate sold

4. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Slope of a Linear Curve
Measure of steepness, or how strong the effect of the independent variable is on the dependent variable…aka sensitivity or delta
Change in y / Change in x = slope
Slope of horizontal line is zero
Slope of vertical line is infinite

5. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Slope of a Linear Curve

6. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Nonlinear Curves
Positive Increasing Slope
Positive Decreasing Slope
Negative Increasing Slope (concave)
Negative Decreasing Slope (convex)

7. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Nonlinear Curves

8. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Slope of Nonlinear Curves
Slope is changing as you move along the curve
Slope is typically expressed as the slope between two points
Curves can have maximum or minimum points (where slope changes from positive to negative or vice versa)

9. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Calculating Area Below or Above a Linear Curve
Measure height and base of right triangle, multiply, then divide by 2

10. AP Economics Mr. Bernstein
Graphs That Depict Numerical Information
Time-Series
Scatter Diagrams
Pie Charts
Bar Charts and Histograms