Question

for exercise 15, answer the question. 15. find the error a student is graphing the distance that a car travels over time. he says that when the car travels at a slower speed, the graph changes to turn toward the x - axis with a negative slope. how do you respond to this student?

Explanation:

The slope of a distance - time graph represents speed. A negative slope means the car is moving backward (towards the starting point), not that a slower speed causes a negative - sloped graph. Slower speed would result in a less steep positive - sloped graph.

Answer:

The student has a misconception. A slower speed does not make the graph have a negative slope. The slope of a distance - time graph for a car moving forward (even at a slow speed) is positive. A negative slope indicates the car is moving in the opposite direction (backward), not that it is moving slowly.