Question

The length of a spring with no applied force acting on it is 10.00 centimeters. Juanita applied different forces to the spring and recorded the new lengths of the spring in a table. She also graphed a scatterplot from the results in the table. Based on the scatterplot, which equation BEST represents these data?

Answer 1

the second option L = 0.05F + 10

Explanation:

the first one

F = 0.05L + 10

does not make any sense, as for length = 10 the force has to be 0. but this function here gives us

0.05×10 + 10 = 0.5 + 10 = 10.5

which is clearly not 0. so, this is wrong.

the second one is correct.

L = 0.05F + 10

it is not perfect, but it is the only one describing the first data points well. like, when F = 0, then L = 10.

the third

L = 0.05F

fails already at the beginning F = 0, as it gives us L = 0 instead of 10. this is wrong.

the fourth

F = 0.05L

fails also already at the beginning. for L = 10 we need to have F = 0. but instead we get F = 0.5. this is wrong.