Final answer:
Two quantities are inversely proportional if one increases while the other decreases such that their product remains constant, described by the equation y = k/x.
Step-by-step explanation:
For two quantities to be inversely proportional means that when one quantity increases, the other quantity decreases in such a way that the product of their values is always constant. This relationship can be described by the equation y = k/x, where k is a constant value and x and y are the variables in question. If we were to graph the relationship between two inversely proportional variables, the result would be a curve that approaches the axes but never intersects them, illustrating that as one variable approaches zero, the other tends to infinity, but neither will actually reach zero or infinity.
An example of an inversely proportional relationship is the one between acceleration (a) and mass (m) under a constant force, according to Newton's Second Law of Motion. The greater the mass of an object, the smaller the acceleration it will experience from that force. Conversely, a smaller mass will experience a greater acceleration.