Moving into creating (t,v) graphs
A (t,v) graph gives different information from a (t,x) graph. Instead of looking at where you are as time passes, we look at how fast you're going. The slopes of different parts of the (t,x) graph are taken, and since each slope is a velocity, we plot how those slopes change.
This graph is to help students with a worksheet a colleague in Oklahoma (Dave Askey) produced called "Slappy the Clown." Mr. Askey has a model of motion for a clown stumbling around that takes him forward and backwards at different speeds. Note the discontinuities in the graph... this is where something allegedly changed its speed instantly. This isn't realistic (and Dowd nearly blew out a knee trying to mimic it one time) but will help ease us into the math. This picture should help you figure out what's going on with the front side of the Slappy the Clown worksheet.
Moving into creating (t,v) graphs
A (t,v) graph gives different information from a (t,x) graph. Instead of looking at where you are as time passes, we look at how fast you're going. The slopes of different parts of the (t,x) graph are taken, and since each slope is a velocity, we plot how those slopes change.
This graph is to help students with a worksheet a colleague in Oklahoma (Dave Askey) produced called "Slappy the Clown." Mr. Askey has a model of motion for a clown stumbling around that takes him forward and backwards at different speeds. Note the discontinuities in the graph... this is where something allegedly changed its speed instantly. This isn't realistic (and Dowd nearly blew out a knee trying to mimic it one time) but will help ease us into the math. This picture should help you figure out what's going on with the front side of the Slappy the Clown worksheet.