3.3.5

Practical Graphs

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Distance-Time Graphs

Distance-time graphs plot the distance travelled against the time. The gradient of a distance-time graph represents the speed (velocity) and direction of movement.

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Gradient

  • Steeper gradients mean faster speed and a negative gradient means the object is travelling back towards the start.
  • If the graph is flat the object is stationary.
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Calculating speed

  • To calculate the speed from a distance-time graph, work out the distance travelled and the time taken for that section and calculate:
    • Speed = distance ÷ time

Velocity-Time Graphs

Velocity-time graphs plot the velocity against the time.

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Velocity

  • Velocity is speed measured in a particular direction.
  • Two objects travelling in opposite directions at a speed of 10km/h would have velocities of 10km/h and -10km/h.
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Gradient and area

  • The gradient in a velocity-time graph represents acceleration.
  • The area under the graph is the total distance travelled.
  • When the graph is flat the velocity is constant.
  • Steeper gradients mean stronger acceleration and negative slopes mean deceleration.

Conversion Graphs

Straight line graphs can be used to convert between different units of measurement.

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Drawing conversion graphs

  • Conversion graphs can be constructed from tables of two different units of the same measurement.
  • The table above shows several distances measured in miles and the same distance measured in kilometres.
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Drawing conversion graphs 2

  • To draw the conversion graph for kilometres-miles, plot these values on a graph.
  • Draw a straight line from the origin that connects all of the points.
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Using conversion graphs

  • To use the conversion graph, draw a line from the value you want to convert to the conversion line.
  • Converting 7 miles gives approximately 11 km and vice versa.

Jump to other topics

1Numbers

2Equations, Formulae & Identities

3Sequences, Functions & Graphs

4Geometry

5Vectors & Transformation Geometry

6Statistics & Probability

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