Hi, I normally just read your posts for additional insights and knowledge, but this time I thought I might interject as a Physics high school teacher. The State of California agrees with Dr. George Spagna, Jr.
In the high school Math standards, the terms "dependent variable", "independent variable", "x-axis" and "y-axis" are used.The terms "ordinate" and "abscissa" are not used, but my students are aware of those two terms. They confuse them and some of them do not know them well enough to answer a fill-in-the-blank question, but do know them well enough to answer a multiple choice or matching question. So they have been exposed to those two terms somewhere even if they are not in the state standards.
I teach Physics and Advanced Physics (IB). In Advanced Physics, I must teach my students both the California State Standards and the IB objectives. The IB objectives also refer to "independent and dependent variables" without any mention of "ordinate" and "abscissa". The x-axis and y-axis are mentioned in relation to error bars and uncertain computations. So...
We use x-axis and y-axis to identify them generically and to enable the students to utilize the generic equation of a line (y = mx + b). We use independent (on the x-axis, unless otherwise stated) to represent the variable they change and dependent variable (on the y-axis, unless otherwise stated) to represent the resultant variable. Sometimes a question on a state test will tell them to graph it differently, like distance vs time which means distance on the y-axis and time on the x-axis regardless of which is the independent or which is the dependent variable. IB uses a slightly more abbreviated form when requesting a specific graph. A d-t graph or distance-time graph refers to a distance vs. time graph. Not much difference, but enough to confuse a few of students, if they are not aware beforehand.
IB expects my students to design their own experiments with the minimum possible error on the x-axis, so sometimes the experiments yield non-standard units and/or non-standard relationships (formulas). My students are then expected to rearrange their data (such as reciprocals, powers, and roots) to form a linear relationship when graphed and change their units to reflect the accepted standard measurements. Boyle's Law is one of the relationships in the IB objectives that became a nightmare lab. Luckily, not all the labs have to be designed by the students. So we do a cookbook lab for Boyle's Law and let them design their own Charles' Law.
I was reading your posts with amazement. Most high school teachers do not have the freedom to choose what to call things. Our students are tested by the state, IB, AP, etc., not to mention college entrance exams, SAT, and/or ACT. If they do not know the terms on the tests, they will not test well even if they know the concepts. I try to expose them to all the terminology I can find, so they realize that concepts might be called something else in different contexts. But my main emphasis is the terminology expected on the state and IB tests.
My IB textbook is a college textbook so didn't fall under the guidelines for choosing a textbook, but all the rest of our textbooks (in our district) had to be California Editions. The publishers had to go through their textbooks, changing the terminology, topics, and concepts to correlate to the state standards. They could have more, but not less, than the state standards. And California is not the only state to have done this.
So when you are deciding on what to call things, you might want to check through the math standards for different states for the commonly used terms. And remember, some of us can't comply, even if we wanted to.
Barbara Bay
Physics High School Teacher
San Bernardino, CA
"Spagna Jr., George" <gspagna@rmc.edu> wrote:
True - but, in the experiment described, the apparatus can be set for
either pre-determined time or predetermined distance of fall. I tell my
students that the "independent variable" is the one they control, the
"dependent variable" is the one they measure as a result of setting the
independent variable.
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"Magnetism, as you may recall from physics class, is a
powerful force which causes certain objects to be attracted
to refrigerators." -- Dave Barry
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Dr. George Spagna
Physics Department
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505
phone: (804) 752-7344
fax: (804) 752-4724
e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu http://faculty.rmc.edu/gspagna