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Comparing linear functions: equation vs. graph

Sal is given the formula of a linear function and the graph of another, and is asked to determine which function increases faster. Created by Sal Khan.

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Video transcript

Two functions, f and g, are described below. Which of these statements about f and g is true? So they defined function f as kind of a traditional linear equation right over here. And this right over here is g. So this right over here is g of x. And that also looks like a linear function. We see it's a kind of a downward sloping line. So let's look at our choices and see which of these are true. f and g are both increasing, and f is increasing faster than g. Well, when I look at g-- Well, first of all, g is definitely decreasing. So we already know that that's false. And f is also decreasing. We see here it has a negative slope. Every time we move forward 3 in the x direction, we're going to move down 7 in the vertical direction. So neither of these are increasing so that's definitely not right. f and g are both increasing. Well, that's definitely not right. So we know that both f and g are decreasing. So this first choice says they're both decreasing, and g is decreasing faster than f. So let's see what the slope on g is. So the slope on g is every time we move 1 in the x direction, positive 1 in the x direction, we move down 2 in the y direction. So for g of x, if we were to write our change in y over our change in x-- which is our slope-- our change in y over change in x, when we move one in the x direction, positive 1 in the x direction, we move down 2 in the y direction. So our change in y over change in x is negative 2. So g has a slope of negative 2. f has a slope of negative 7/3. Negative 7/3 is the same thing as negative 2 and 1/3. So f's slope is more negative. So it is decreasing faster. So g is not decreasing faster than f. f is decreasing faster than g. So this is not right. And then we have this choice-- f and g are both decreasing, and f is decreasing faster than g. This is right, right over here. We have this last choice-- g is increasing but f is decreasing. We know that's not true. g is actually decreasing.