TEACHER GUIDE

PROPORTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS: TABLES, EQUATIONS,

& GRAPHS
GRADES 6-8
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

• The constant of proportionality means adding n each time.

Students may believe that a relation is proportional if the variables are related through addition or subtraction. For
example, they may say that the relation represented by {10:13, 11:14, 12:15} is proportional because we add 3 to x to
get y each time. Remind students that only multiplication (or division) makes a relation proportional.

• Improper graphing is used to prove proportionality.

Students learn that if the graph of a relation goes through the origin, then the relation is proportional. However, students
may “force” the graph to go through the origin by simply connecting the first data point to (0, 0). Remind students that
the entire graph must be a straight line with no bends or corners. Conversely, students may decide that a relation is not
proportional by failing to connect points or to extend the line in the direction of the origin. Remind students that graphs
of proportional relations go through the origin where x = 0 and y = 0, because “when we have 0 x, we also have 0 y.”
This is only the case if the variables are strictly related through multiplication and the relationship is proportional.

• The relation is not proportional because the variables are related by multiplying by a fraction.
Students may believe that the constant of proportionality must be a whole number or integer. Provide students with
examples during the lesson that allow them to decide if relations with non-integer constants of proportionality are
proportional. For example, provide them with {2:5, 3:7.5, 5:12.5, 7:17.5} and {6:4, 9:6, 12:8, 15:10}. In the first case,
the variables are related through multiplying by 2.5, and in the second case, they are related through multiplying by 32 .
Given a data set such as {3:1, 6:2, 9:3} students may also notice that we divide the first variable by 3 to get the second.
Division can also define proportionality, because dividing by 3 is the same as multiplying by 31 .

RECOGNIZING PROPORTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Introduce students to proportional relationships through finding a pattern given a simple situation. For example, if every
cow has 4 legs, what is the relationship between the number of cows and the number of legs? To observe a pattern, we
first need to generate a data set. If we have 1 cow, we have 4 legs. If we have 2 cows, we have 8 legs. 3 cows have 12
legs and 4 cows have 16 legs. We notice that in each case, the number of legs is 4 times the number of cows. Because
we always multiply by 4, that means that the relationship is proportional, meaning that the variables are always related in
the same way and through multiplication. Now you can ask students to determine if a data set represents a proportional
relationship. Provide the data in a table or as ratios.

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 CONSTANT OF PROPORTIONALITY

If a relationship is proportional, we always multiply one variable by the same number to find the other variable. This
number is called the constant of proportionality, and it is the same throughout the data set. For example, {2:6, 3:9, 4:12,
5:15} represents a proportional relationship because the constant of proportionality is 3 in each case. However, {1:3, 3:9,
4:12, 5:20, 6:24} contains two different relationships: the first three data pairs are related by a constant of 3, while the last
two are related by a constant of 4. Since the number we multiply by is not consistent, this data set is not proportional.
Show students that the constant of proportionality does not need to always be a whole number, it can also be a decimal
or a fraction.

RECOGNIZING PROPORTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN EQUATIONS & GRAPHS

If a relationship between two variables is proportional, then they are related strictly through multiplication. All equations
that represent proportional relationships are in the form y = kx, where k is a constant. Equations that involve both
multiplication and either addition or subtraction, such as y = 3x + 4, are not proportional. Provide students with
some examples of proportional and non-proportional equations and have them generate some data for each. For the
proportional relations, we can multiply each value of x by the same constant to find the value of y, but for the non-
proportional relations, that is not possible. If we graph the points and draw a line through them, a proportional relation
passes through the origin (0, 0), while a non-proportional relation crosses elsewhere on the y-axis.

TEACHER TIPS

While students practice recognizing proportionality, especially when they are using word problems and equations, show
them that they can always generate a table of values if they find themselves stuck. Once the shape of the data is clearly
visible, it becomes simpler to determine if variables are related through a constant of proportionality.

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