Graphing Basics

Creating a graph

Draw the y-axis on thevertical axis and the X-axis on the horizontalone

Label what variable is on each of the axis and show units

Title graph using format y vs. x

Time (s)

Distance vs. TimeD

ista

nce

(m)

Decide on what intervals you will be using

on each axis and write those in

• Be sure that the intervals are even and appropriate to the measurements you have taken

John’s Weight vs. Year

Draw the line of best fit (trend line) A line on a scatter plot which can be drawn near the points to more clearly show the trend between two sets of data.

Line of Best Fit

Plot the data points that you collected on the graph (Scatter plot)

You try!!

• Draw a line of best fit for the following scatter plot.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Plotting Points

(x, y)(x, y)

• (3, 2)• (5, 3) • (3, -2)• (-4, 1)• (0,-1)• (-3, -5)

Interpreting Graphs

• How many total miles did the car travel?

Works Cited

• www.fccps.k12.va.us/GM/GMHS/faculty/harris/psnotes/physics/02graphing.ppt -