Constant of proportionality from table (with equations)
About this video
Given a table where x and y are proportional, the video finds the constant r in y = r × x. From x = 4, y = 10 it gets 10/4 = 2 1/2, then checks that multiplying by 2.5 works for every pair: 5 × 2.5 = 12.5 and 10 × 2.5 = 25. So r = 2.5.
You'll be able to
- find the constant of proportionality r from a table by dividing y by x.
- check that the same constant works for every pair in the table.
- write a constant as a fraction, mixed number or decimal (10/4 = 2 1/2 = 2.5).
Key words
- constant of proportionality
- The number r you multiply x by to get y in y = r × x.
- proportional
- x and y are proportional when y is always the same number times x.
Transcript
- [Instructor] We're told the quantities x and y are proportional, and then they give us a table where they give us a bunch of x's and they give us the corresponding y's. When x is four, y is 10. When x is five, y is 12.5, and so on and so forth. Find the constant of proportionality, r, in the equation y is equal to r times x.
So pause this video and see if you can figure that out. All right so we wanna find the constant, the constant of proportionality, I sometimes have trouble saying that, r, where if I for any x, if I multiply it by r I get y. Well we just have to look at each of these x's and figure out well what are we multiplying by to get to y.
So what do I have to multiply four by to get to 10? Well if you multiply it by 10/4, if you multiply it by 10/4, then you're gonna get to 10. And 10/4 is the same thing as multiplying it by, let's see that is 2 1/2. So this is times 2 1/2. So let's see does that hold?
In every case if I multiply by 2 1/2, if I multiply x by 2 1/2, do I get y? So five times 2 1/2, five times two is 10, and then another 1/2 is 2.5. It indeed does equals 12.5. Five times 2.5. And then here 10 times 2.5 is clearly 25. And you can work it out by hand.
I did the little bit of the multiplication in my head, but you can see in every case, I take my x, I multiply it by 2.5, I get my y. So in every case I take my x and multiply it by the constant of proportionality 2.5, I get my y. So what's the constant of proportionality?
It is 2.5.
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