| Discussion: | All Topics |
| Topic: | Generating a graph curve from 2 known points and a middle reference point. |
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| Subject: | RE: Generating a graph curve from 2 known points and a middle reference point. |
| Author: | Alan Cooper |
| Date: | Aug 9 2006 |
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points. Usually when people have only two data points they assume the curve is a
straight line, in which case, over any interval the "rise" (y-change) is
proportional to the "run" (t or x-change), and the ratio of rise/run is called
the slope.
From x=0 to x=50 the run is 50-0=50. Since your y changes from +40 to -70,
the "rise" is -110 so the slope is -110/50=-2.2 (the line actually goes
down rather than up so the slope is negative). So for any other x-value we can
get the corresponding y-value by taking the starting value of 40 and going
down by 2.2 times the run.
This gives y=40-2.2x
If you had actually specified a "middle reference point" that was not on the
straight line, then one way to get a smooth curve through all three points would
be to fit a parabola given by a quadratic equation of the form y=c+bx+ax^2. When
x=0 this gives y=c so your c would be 40. When x=50 y=-70 so
40+50b+2500a=-70. This isn't enough info to find both b and a but if you also
had another point to plug in then you could find them just by solving the two
equations.(If a=0 the above equation just gives b=-110/50 and we are back to
the straight line y=40-2.2x).
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