Linear Functions
Have you ever wondered how long your fingernail could be if it had never been cut since you were born? Assuming that your fingernail at birth was about 5 mm in length and knowing that fingernails grow about 1/10 mm per day you could create a linear function to find out!
What is a linear function?
What is a linear function.pdfIf you need more help understanding the basics of a function, check out the fundamental Functions!
Constant Rate of Change and Initial Value
Constant Rate of Change and Initial Value.pdfIf you need a review on the slope of a line, check out the fundamental Slope of a Line!
How do you represent a linear function?
A linear function can take on many different forms or representations. How many ways have you seen a linear function or more simply, how have you seen a line represented in math class? The first is probably the most obvious, a GRAPH. Next you have more than likely worked with TABLES. And typically, the final two representations you explore in math class are EQUATIONS and VERBAL DESCRIPTIONS or more commonly, word problems. What does a linear function look like as a GRAPH, TABLE, EQUATION, and VERBAL DESCRIPTION? To answer this, let’s create these multiple representations for a linear function.
Multiple Representations of a Linear Function
Multiple Representations of a Linear Function.pdfWhy do we learn about linear functions?
Anytime we need to model a situation that has a constant rate of change (slope) a linear function will be used. In everyday life the most common example is anytime you have a recurring fee that is the same each month/quarter/year, you can represent that situation with a linear function. A business model looking at sales may show a linear relationship (also called a linear trend) that is best modeled with a linear function to make future predictions. To look further into linear functions being used to model data that shows a linear relationship, check out the fundamental Linear Regressions!
What’s next? Check out the fundamental Writing Linear Equations to explore how to write linear equations from a table, graph or verbal description.
