Lesson 10 of 48
Logarithmic scale
Why a straight line on a log axis means something is multiplying.
Half of the charts you will be shown in your life are log-scaled, and most of the people showing them do not say so. Reading the axis is a defensive skill as much as a mathematical one.
Do this
Take real data spanning at least three orders of magnitude. Plot it on a linear axis and on a log axis, and write the one sentence each plot supports — and the sentence it hides.
The question that unlocks the next lesson
Data plotted on a log y-axis forms a straight rising line. What is the data doing?
- AGrowing by a constant amount each step
- BGrowing by a constant factor each step
- CStaying flat
- DGrowing and shrinking alternately