How do you interpret in math?

Answer 1

Interpreting an equation or a mathematical result is explaining it in the context of the real-life situation from which it arose.

For example, suppose you do an experiment which measures the length of a spring when different masses are suspended from it. If your experiment works as intended, your result will be points on a line of the form L = mG + c where

L is the length of the spring, in cm;

G is the suspended mass, in grams,

and m and c are constant numbers, calculated from the experiment.

But what does it all mean? The interpretation of the result could include one or more of the following:

• Interpretation of line: the relationship between the length and suspended mass is linear
• Interpretation of the fact that all observations are very close to that line (or the fact that the correlation coefficient is close to +1): that is the only aspect of the relationship.
• Interpretation of m: The length of the spring increases by m cm for every additional gram suspended from it.
• Interpretation of c: This is the length of the spring when there isno mass suspended from it - the rest length.