## deriving F=ma? a vs F?

I knew i should have paid more attention in class =/

anyways, We have been studying newton's second law. And I have a question on my lab that asks for me to "derive equation for a (acceleration) vs F (force) and a (acceleration) vs m (mass)"

a vs F and a vs M are two graphs which we did.

and I am at a complete lost at what to do. I have no idea how to or what to derive. My only hint is a small piece of note I copied from teacher's notes. It goes like this:

It looks like slope is equal to 1/mass. So

a α(alpha) F
a α 1/m
a α F/m
F = ma

does anybody know what a(alpha) stands for? And what it exactly means by "deriving equation?"

thank you very very much.
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 Deriving means how someone formulates an equation through other equations or experimental results. The alpha symbol means 'is proportional to'.
 so would i derive a vs F or a vs m in the same fashion as: a (alpha) x a (alpha) y a (alpha) z a = xyz

That's not α (alpha) but rather $\varpropto$, which means a is proportional to F, a is proportional to 1/m, and a is proportional to F/m, with the last being a one-to-one proportionality which gives a = F/m.
 F $\varpropto$ ma? How to say that F=ma? is not F=kma?