Slope = rate
Here's another graph:
Looking at the graphs, can you figure out how much each person makes per hour? In other words, what the change in money per time is?
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You may recognize "change in money per time" as being basically the same as delta y / delta x, which is the classic formula for slope. This is no accident.
If you can engrave this on your brain, you'll have a head start interpreting lots of graphs, whether they are straight lines or not. The slope at any part of a graph tells you how fast the process is happening right then.
This graph represents sales of pizza slices over a period of 4 hours. At what point in time is pizza income increasing at the fastest rate?
(To make this problem interactive, turn on javascript!)
- I need a hint ... : Slope = Rate
- ...another hint ... : Where is the slope the steepest?
I think I have the answer: At about the 1.5 hour mark.
To make this element interactive, turn on javascript.
Click the buttons to see how slope and rate are related:
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