- Using your graphing calculator or favorite graphing app (this site has some fun interactive, math apps), type in your prediction and see how close it comes to the blue curve.
- Compare and contrast your results with your group. Perhaps one group member came close on one aspect and another came close on something different.
- As a group, keep working on it until you come up with an equation you are happy with and answer the following questions:
- What part of the equation do you think affects the amplitude of the graph?
- What part of the equation do you think affects the period of the graph?
- The horizontal line that goes through the centre of the curve is called the sinusoidal axis. For y = sin x, the sinusoidal axis would just be the x axis. What part of the equation do you think moves (translates) that axis?
- Come up with a model or formula for finding the equation of a sinusoidal funtion from a graph.
Now, Revisit where we started and how we got here.