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Lecture 5
January 24,
1997
Physics 1000
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Reading Assignment:
Tippens Ch. 1, section 5 reviews graphing.
Today's lecture continues
the discussion of graphing began in the previous lecture (1).
It is important that the student acquire the following two skills:
- Skill (1): how to produce
the graph of a straight line given the equation of the line and
- Skill (2): how to produce
the equation of the line given a set of points that lie along the line.
In fact, only two points are needed to specify a straight line.
In this Lecture we discuss
Skill (1) at length. The graph of a line can
be found in either of two ways. First, by constructing a table of points
along the line, plotting them, and drawing the line through the points
-- only two points are needed to do this. Second, inspecting the equation
of the line, identifying the slope and the y-intercept from the equation,
and plotting a line with that y-intercept and slope. Recall that the equation
of a straight line is just
y= mx + b
where m is the slope and
b is the y-intercept. In this lecture we discuss the graphical meaning
of m and b at some length.
Skill (2) requires that
the student understand how to find the slope and y-intercept of the line
from a set of points.This is discussed further in the next lecture.
Finally, the student should
understand what a parabola is and how to graph one.
Link for the Day: Interactive
Mathematics Online (Algebra & Graphing)
Questions or comments
should be addressed to Mike Ritzwoller at ritzwoller@phys-geophys.colorado.edu
Go to Lectures in Physics 1000.
Go to Physics 1000 Home Page.