Main content
Algebra (all content)
Course: Algebra (all content) > Unit 1
Lesson 7: Dependent & independent variables- Dependent & independent variables
- Dependent & independent variables: graphing
- Dependent & independent variables: equation
- Independent versus dependent variables
- Tables from equations with 2 variables
- Match equations to coordinates on a graph
- Relationships between quantities in equations
© 2023 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
Dependent & independent variables
Identifying the dependent and the independent variables in a word problem. Created by Sal Khan.
Want to join the conversation?
- I still don't get it whats the difference between independent and dependent(7 votes)
- The dependent variable is supposed to DEPEND on the independent variable.
If I do make a plot to show how much water I drink depending on what the temperature is outside. The # of cups of water is the dependent variable. This leaves the independent variable to be the temperature!
You can also tell if it's the other way around. Does the temperature outside depend on how much water you drink? No, no it doesn't! Tip for the future, if it does seem to make sense both ways then you might have a junk design for your experiment.(21 votes)
- Can someone please help me understand the basics because The video goes to fast and please vote this because i'm trying to get achevements I will like all of yours.(8 votes)
- Assuming you're asking about independent and dependent variables. The independent variable is the variable being controlled in the problem, and the dependent variable is the variable that changes because of this control. For instance, if you were to be measuring the number of miles you drove in any number of hours at a constant speed, the controlled independent variable is the time in hours and the dependent variable is the distance you drove in miles.(6 votes)
- Which is the dependent variable? Is it the total or not?(5 votes)
- The dependent variable is the one that depends on the value of some other number.
If, say, y = x+3, then the value y can have depends on what the value of x is.
Another way to put it is the dependent variable is the output value and the independent variable is the input value. So for y=x+3, when you input x=2, the output is y = 5.(8 votes)
- What is an indipendent varible(6 votes)
- The independent variable is the variable that changes the dependent variable. So, say if you drink water from a large water bottle, the amount of liters you drink depends on how many times you drink from your water bottle. If you drink different amounts of water from the bottle, you will have a different amount of liters you drank(6 votes)
- How come the world uses Dependent and independent varible not only in math but in science to? Do they mean the same thing or what?(4 votes)
- You're right! In both math and science, we need a word to describe a variable that changes as something else changes (dependent ) and a variable that does not change as a result of something else changing, and instead causes something else to change (independent).(9 votes)
- In a y=mx+b equation, which one is dependent?(6 votes)
- y is dependent and mx, b are independent(2 votes)
- what if the problem has 4,000,000 variables??(1 vote)
- Dont worry you wont see a problem with 4,000,000 variables anytime soon(11 votes)
- I don't understand how you find out the dependent variable and the independent variable. P(4 votes)
- The dependent variable is usually graphed on the y-axis, and the independent variable is usually graphed on the x-axis. In addition, the value of the independent variable determines the value of the dependent variable and is used in experiments to test the value of the dependent variable.
For example, if I were studying the influence of hours studied on the final grade received in a course, the number of hours (the input that changes the output) would be the independent variable and graphed on the x-axis, and the final grade received (the output of number of hours studied) would be the dependent variable and graphed on the y-axis.(3 votes)
- can u explain what is the dependent and independent of this following variables?
1. the amount of nitrogen in the soil
2. the amount of phosphorus in the soil
3. the amount of rainfall
4. the amount of potassium in the ground
5. frequency of weeding
6. temperature(4 votes)- You do not have a comparison of two things, which you need to have a independent/dependent relationship. Any of these could be compared over time.
So if you have the amount of nitrogen in the soil over a given time period or rainfall per month over a year, or temperature from 4 am to 8 pm, these would all be the dependent variable with time as the independent variable.(2 votes)
- For people who don't understand:
The Independent variable = what varies in the Question/Example.
The Dependent variable = The effect the Independent variable has.
Hope this helped :](4 votes)
Video transcript
On your math quiz, you earn
5 points for each question that you answer correctly. In the table above, q represents
the number of questions that you answer correctly
on your math quiz, and p represents the
total number of points that you score on your quiz. The relationship between
these two variables can be expressed by the
following equation-- p is equal to 5q, where
p is the points you get and q is the number of questions
you answered correctly. And you could see
that in the table. If q is 0, if you got
no questions right, you get 0 points. If you got no questions
right, well, 5 times 0 is going to be 0. If you get one question
right, well, 1 times 5 is 5. You get 5 points per question. Two questions right,
well, 2 times 5 is 10. 3 times 5 is 15. So this all makes sense. So then they ask us, which
of the following statements are true? Check all that apply. So let's think about this. They say the
dependent variable is the number of points you score. So when you think about
what's happening here, is your number of
points you score is being driven by how many
questions you get right. It's not like somehow the
teacher says you got 15 points and now you have to get
exactly three questions right. It's the other way around. The number of
questions you get right is the independent
variable, and that's driving the number
of points you score. So the number of
points you score is the dependent variable. And typically, the convention is
to have the dependent variable be equal to some
expression involving the independent variable. And you see that
right over here. p is dependent on
what happens to q. Depending on the
number of questions, you multiply it by
5, and you get p. So the dependent variable is
the number of points you score. The dependent
variable is the number of questions you
answer correctly. No, we've already
talked about that. That's the independent variable. The independent variable is
the number of points you score. No, that's not right. That's the dependent variable. The independent
variable is a number of questions you
answer correctly. Well, that's right. That's what's driving
the dependent variable. And we can check our answer.