Analyze how the distance is changing in the given graphs. What situations could these behaviors represent?
See solution.
Practice makes perfect
We are given the graphs shown below. We are asked to describe Graphs A, B, and D.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Graph A
From this graph we can see that the distance is increasing in the same way along all of the graph.
This means that she is running or walking at constant speed the entire time.
Graph B
The distance is increasing quickly at first. Then, the distance continues increasing, but more slowly. Then the distance remains constant, as we can tell by the horizontal segment. Finally, the distance starts to increase quickly again. This could represent a situation where Janelle starts by running, walks for a while, takes a break, and then continues.
Janelle starts running. The distance starts to increase fast.
She starts walking. The distance continue increasing but slower.
She takes a break. The distance does not change.
Janelle starts running again.
Graph D
Notice that at all time the distance is increasing. However, this case is different from Graph A. If we look carefully we can see that the distance is increasing faster, as the graph reaches higher points faster each time.
This can represent that Janelle stars running going faster each time. In other words, she is accelerating.
