Draw a Straight Line Graph from Curved Line y=85x^(-1)

[fatoomch]

Hi,

If I have a curved line of, say, y=85x^(-1) could I say that y is proportional to 1 over x?... and use this to draw a straight line graph?

Thanks

 

[radou]

Huh? The graph of this function is no straight line.

 

[fatoomch]

sorry if I'm not clear on this.

If A=pi r^2 then A is proportional to r^2 and you could draw a straight line graph of A against r^2

so if y = 85x^-1 wouldn't y be proportional to the inverse of x?... you could plot a straight line graph of y against the inverse of x?

 

[cristo]

You are correct.

What radou thought you meant was that the graph of y plotted against x is a straight line (which isn't true; of course it's a hyperbola). However, if you change the axes and plot y against 1/x, then you will obtain a straight line graph.