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How can you tell if a data set with equally spaced inputs represents a quadratic function?

User Matthew J Morrison
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ANSWER:

When the data has equally spaced inputs, you can analyze patterns in the differences in the outputs to determine what type of function can be used to represent the data. Linear data have constant first differences. Quadratic data have constant second differences. The first and second differences of f(x) = x² are shown below:

How can you tell if a data set with equally spaced inputs represents a quadratic function-example-1
User Shajeel Afzal
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