Independent and Dependent Variables

Sarah is bringing treats to her elementary school class on her birthday.

T = the number of treats

S = the number of students

Which of the variables is independent?

• S - the number of students

• T - the number of treats

Carey and Jeff are raising money to purchase books for their school's library. The more money they raise, the more books they will be able to purchase for the library.

M = the amount of money Carey and Jeff raise

B = the number of books Carey and Jeff will be able to purchase

Which of the variables is dependent?

• M - the amount of money they raise

• B - the number of books they can purchase

In order to earn extra money on the weekends, Josie's string quartet performs at wedding receptions.

R = the length of the reception

M = the amount of money Josie's quartet earns

Which of the variables is independent?

• R - the length of the reception

• M - the amount of money earned

In order to earn extra spending money, Dalton babysits children after school. The greater the number of hours he babysits, the more money he earns.

H = the number of hours Dalton babysits

M = the amount of money Dalton earns

Which of the variables is dependent?

• H - the number of hours babysat

• M - the amount of money earned

In the United States House of Representatives, the number of Representatives from a state is calculated based on its population.

R = the number of Representatives

P = the population of a state

Which of the variables is independent?

• R - the number of representatives

• P - the population of the state

Which of the following statements is true?

• the independent variable is distance
• the independent variable is d=25 t
• the dependent variable is time
• the dependent variable is distance

Which of the following statements is true?

• The dependent variable is total cost
• The dependent variable is weight
• The independent variable is total cost
• The independent variable is cost of a package

Priya streams movies through a company that charges her a $5 monthly fee plus $1.50 per movie What is the dependent variable?

• the number of movies she rents

• the company that she rents from

• the total cost

• which movies she rents

Kira designs websites. She can create three different websites each week. Kira wants to create an equation that will give her the total number of websites she can design given the number of weeks she works.
What is the independent variable?

• the number of websites she makes
• the number of weeks
• the design of the website
• there isn't one

A food service worker earns $12 per hour. How much money, m, does the worker earn on a shift of h hours? Identify the dependent variable.

• money
• hours