Question

Give a real-world example of indirect variation.

Answer 1

Direct variation occurs when one variable increases in proportion to another variable, like amount of candy purchased and the cost.

Indirect variation involves the opposite, when one increases and the other decreases. There are lots of applications in physics, such as frequency and wavelength, pressure and volume, distance and gravitational force. For a more accessible example, time spent running and your mile time. Or, GPA and class rank. As your GPA increases, your class rank decreases (approaches being #1). Or, driving speed and driving time (as you drive faster, you spend less time in the car).

Does this make sense?