The Layer That Settles Names the Family

You'll learnto tell a linear function from a quadratic one by subtracting a table of outputs.

A line climbs by the same amount at every step. A parabola does not, but the amount it climbs by changes at a steady rate of its own. Subtracting a table of outputs once, and then twice, turns that into a test with a yes-or-no answer. Eleven short steps; press Next for each one.

11 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · Δ · Δ² · EQUAL SPACING · v3

subtract once for a line, twice for a parabola

Before you start

What you're looking at

A line and a parabola drawn beside a table of their outputs, with subtraction arrows building rows of differences.

The question

Which row of differences finally stops changing, the first or the second?

Step 1 / 11