Calculate the first and eventually second differences between consecutive terms. Is either of these the same throughout the given values?
Linear function
We want to determine which kind of model describes the given data best.
x
0
1
2
3
4
y
1
3
5
7
9
To do so, we will calculate the first and eventually second differences between consecutive terms.
We can see above that the first differences are the same.
Since the first differences are all equal, the y-values form a sequence as the x-values change at a constant rate. Therefore, the given data represents a linear function.
