3.6 Graphs of Functions Defined by Tables of Data
Straight-Line Segments Graph • Smooth Curve Graph • Reading a Graph • Linear Interpolation
As we noted in Section 3.1, there are ways other than formulas to show functions. One important way to show the relationship between variables is by means of a table of values found by observation or from an experiment.
Statistical data often give values that are taken for certain intervals or are averaged over various intervals, and there is no meaning to the intervals between the points. Such points should be connected by straight-line segments only to make them stand out better and make the graph easier to read. See Example 1.
EXAMPLE 1 Graph using straight-line segments
The electric energy usage ...
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