We are now going to explore a different type of relationship called a quadratic relationship.
Let’s take the first differences for this example.
As we can see, the first difference in each case is constant. This tells us that this is a linear relationship.
Now, let’s take the first differences for the second example.
As we can see, the first difference in each case is not constant. This tells us that this is not a linear relationship. Let’s try taking the second difference.
As we can see, the second difference is constant. This is important, because it tells us that this is a quadratic relationship.
We can determine just by looking at the equation of a parabola how it will open up. This will be explored later this unit.
