I have two questions:
If I have a table such as:
Elevation Temperature
in 1000 of ft in degrees Fahrenheit
4 73
5 69.5
6 60
So I have found the slope to be -3.5 and the y-intercept to be (0,87)
The equation of my line is y = -3.5x + 87
1) Is the left column of the table always the x axis and the right column of the table always the y axis?
2) I'm not sure how to complete this question:
Restate your equation in the form of a sentence: "If x represents..., then y = ... represents..."
So I said If x represents the elevation in thousands of feet, then y = -3.5 x + 87 equals .....I'm not sure what to put here -- the elevation at 0 ft?
Thank you.
the x-axis is usually (traditionally) the independent variable, and the y-axis is the dependent variable
in this case, the temperature DEPENDS on the elevation
Thank you, Scott, but the question was asking what y = represented?
1) In the context of the given table, yes, the left column represents the x-axis and the right column represents the y-axis. The x-axis corresponds to the independent variable, which is the elevation in thousands of feet in this case, and the y-axis corresponds to the dependent variable, which is the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Regarding your second question, to restate the equation in the form of a sentence, you can say: "If x represents the elevation in thousands of feet, then y = -3.5x + 87 represents the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit." This sentence clarifies that for any given value of x (the elevation), the equation can be used to calculate the corresponding value of y (the temperature). In this case, the equation predicts the temperature based on the elevation.