Question

Is the relationship of the data below linear?

Hours Worked Amount Charged
1 25
2 40
3 60
4 80

Answer 1

I know all about functions and such, but I'm still fuzzy on the whole "linear or not" thing. Can someone please explain how to tell whether or not a relationship is linear? Don't just say yes or no, please.

Answer 2

a linear function is of the form y=mx+c
take any 2 points, say
3 60
2 40
can you find the equation of line using these ?(find m,c)
if yes, then plug in other 2 points to check whether they lie on that line.
if they do, function is linear, if they don't, the function isn't linear.

Answer 3

Yeah... Didn't get that at all. Oh well.

Answer 4

lol.
ok, lets look at it another way,
observe that increase in hours is constant = 1 (1+1=2.2+1=3,...)
so, increase in amount charged must also be constant for a linear function.
is it constant in this case ?

Answer 5

25+ ...= 40
40 +... = 60
60+ ...= 80
if all those ... are equal, then the function is linear.