Question

How do we find the constant rate of change in a table?

Answer 1

Let's assume the following table:

In order to find the constant rate of change we can do the following steps:

Step 1:

Identify the independent variable and the dependent variable

The dependent variable is usually y

The independent variable is usually x

Step 2:

The constant rate of change will be given by the following formula:

$m=\frac{y2-y1}{x2-x1}$

Step 3:

From the table take two different values from y and two different values for x, for example, from the previous table:

y1 = -4

y2 = -2

x1 = -2

x2 = -1

Step 4:

Replace those values into the formula:

$m=\frac{-2-(-4)}{-1-(-2)}=\frac{2}{1}=2$

Therefore, the constant rate of change for the table is 2.

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The y-intercept can be found locating the value of y when x is equal to 0.

For example, from the table:

When x = 0, y is equal to 0. Therefore, the y-intercept for the table is 0