Activity
Your teacher will show a video of a flag being raised. Function gives the height of the flag over time. Height is measured in feet. Time is measured in seconds since the flag is fully secured to the string, which is when the video clip begins.
- Use your own graph paper to sketch a graph that could represent the function . Be sure to include a label and a scale for each axis.
Compare your answer:
Self Check
Additional Resources
Graphing Situations as Functions
Example 1
Draw a graph representing a function that describes Sam’s distance from home over an hour.
A: Sam rides his bike to his friend’s house at a constant rate for 20 minutes.
B: Sam plays for 20 minutes at his friend’s house.
C: Sam and his friend bike together to an ice cream shop that is between their houses for 20 minutes.
Here is a sample graph. Notice that the -axis is labeled “time in minutes” and the -axis is labeled “distance from home (miles).”
The distance from home is increasing as Sam rides to his friend’s house. While playing at his friend’s house, the distance remained constant and unchanged. When Sam left his friend’s house for the ice cream shop, the distance from home decreased because the shop is in between their houses, so Sam was getting closer to home.
Example 2
Tyler filled up his bathtub, took a bath, and then drained the tub. The function gives the depth of the water , in inches, minutes after Tyler began to fill the bathtub.
These statements describe how the water level in the tub was changing over time. Use the statements to sketch an approximate graph of the function.
A sample graph below meets all of the statements above.
Try it
Try It: Graphing Situations as Functions
A rock climber begins her descent from a height of 50 feet. She slowly descends at a constant rate for 4 minutes. She takes a break for 1 minute; she then realizes she left some of her gear on top of the rock and climbs more quickly back to the top at a constant rate.
Create a graph representing this situation.
Here is how to graph the situation: