Exploring Inverse Variation
How does the graph look when a is positive?
How does the graph look when a is negative?
What happens to y as x increases?
What happens to y as x decreases?
How does the product of xy relate to a?
What is the equation for inverse variation?
The following questions have to do with the scenario stated below.
The amount of heat lost through a windowpane depends on how thick the glass is. A formula for this function for a certain window is
in which x represents the thickness of the pane in millimeters and y represents the number of units of heat lost.
In your notebook:
1. Copy and complete the following table
2. Graph the function.
2. Graph the function.What happens to the units of heat lost, y, as the thickness in millimeters, x, increases?
How do the thickness and units of heat lost vary with each other?
As one of the two variables in this function becomes very large, what happens to the other?