Physics Assignment                                                                Brockport High School NY USA
Graphing Techniques                                                              Mr Keefer

Henry (Hank) Aaron was a great home run hitter for several major league baseball teams.  He holds the record for most home runs, eclipsing Babe Ruth's record of 714.  The table below shows his "stats" throughout his brilliant career.

  Calendar
Year

  Years in Majors

  Home Runs Hit

  Total Career
 HR's

  1954

  1

  13

  13

  1955

  2

  27

40

  1956

  3

  26

66

  1957

4

44

110

  1958

  5

30

140

  1959

6

39

179

  1960

7

40

219

  1961

8

34

253

  1962

9

45

298

  1963

10

44

342

  1964

11

24

366

  1965

12

32

398

1966

13

44

442

  1967

14

39

481

  1968

15

29

510

  1969

16

44

554

  1970

17

38

592

  1971

18

47

639

  1972

19

34

673

  1973

20

40

713

  1974

21

20

733

  1975

22

12

745

 1976

23

10

755

On graph paper, plot the total career home runs (y axis) as a function of years in the majors.  Label fully, then draw a "best fit line." Answer the following questions.
1.  Which are the independent and dependent variables?  Explain why they were chosen.
2.  Calculate the slope of your "best fit line."  Include the units.  What does the slope represent?
3.  By interpolation, how many home runs would you predicted after 10.5 years in the majors?
4.  According to your graph, how many home runs would Mr. Aaron have hit had he played 50 years in the majors?  Is this a fair assumption?
5.  Explain the terms interpolation and extrapolation.

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