Which result appears to be inaccurate according to the observation tables and graphing instructions?

• A. A point that lies far outside the graph area.
• B. The point not appearing on the drawn graph; you read its x-axis and write a reason indicating that it doesn’t occur in the graph.
• C. A point at the origin.
• D. A point on the maximum value.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that a graph only shows data within the scale of its axes. If a data point would lie beyond the plotted range, it cannot be drawn on that graph. The proper way to handle such a point is to note its x-value and explain that it lies outside the graph area (beyond the scale), not to say it “doesn’t occur” in the graph. Saying it doesn’t occur implies the data doesn’t exist, which isn’t accurate—the data exist but are simply outside the displayed range. So the statement that describes the point as not appearing because it doesn’t occur on the graph is the misleading one, because the correct interpretation is that the point lies outside the graph’s plotting area.