Question

The MTA is flat broke. It wants to test the effect of music on subway use. The MTA will play classical music over the loudspeakers on the A, then it will look to see if the number of people that take that line changes.

Identify the independent variable, dependent variable, and the constant.

Answer 1

In the MTA experiment, the independent variable is the playing of classical music, the dependent variable is the change in the number of subway riders, and the constants are factors like time of day and volume that remain the same during the experiment.

Step-by-step explanation:

When evaluating the MTA's experiment to test the effect of music on subway use, we can identify the following:

• The independent variable (IV) is the factor that is changed or controlled to test its effects on the dependent variable. In this scenario, it is the playing of classical music over the loudspeakers on the A subway line.
• The dependent variable (DV) is the effect or outcome that is measured in the experiment. In this case, it would be the number of people taking the A subway line.
• The constants in the experiment are the elements that remain unchanged throughout the experiment. While not explicitly mentioned in this scenario, constants might include the time of day when the music is played, the volume of the music, or the specific section of the A line where the experiment is conducted.

This experiment is similar to designing scientific experiments that test hypotheses by manipulating independent variables to observe changes in dependent variables.