Real World Graph

The Challenge

Take something in the real world and produce a graph about it!

Example: The Ride

You leave home and walk for 5 minutes to the bus stop, covering 900m.

Wait at the bus stop for 7 minutes.

Take a bus ride for 8 minutes to get to the shops, covering 8,500m.

And here's the graph:

How to Sketch a Story

1. Choose your Axes: Usually, Time goes on the bottom (x-axis) and Distance, Population, Dollars, Height (whatever you are interested in) goes on the side (y-axis)
2. Mark the "Anchor Points": Work out the specific moments in the story. In the example:
   • Start: (0, 0)
   • End of walk: (5, 900)
   • End of wait: (12, 900) - the time increased, but the distance didn't!
   • End of bus ride: (20, 9400) - total distance is 900 + 8500.
3. Connect the dots: Think about the shape. A steady walk is a straight line. A speeding bus will be a steeper line!

Now it is Your Turn!

Work out your subject of interest, something from your daily life (walks, phone battery, cooking, exercise), a news story, local wildlife (birds, ants), prices, anything!

Try to imagine the shape of the graph first:

• A steady thing like walking, or a tap into a cup, will have a smoothly rising (linear) line
• A leaking bucket will start off falling fast, then slow down as the bucket empties
• Rain can fall steady, or in great bursts
• Throwing a ball against a wall and catching it. The distance from you goes up, then immediately comes back down

The "Master" Challenge

Have a Non-Linear relationship in your graph. This is where the line isn't straight. Think of something that speeds up, like a ball rolling down a steep hill, or slows down, or rises and falls smoothly.