Next Stage. What to Do with Constants

Abstract

In our equations we have regarded x as growing, and as a result of x being made to grow y also changed its value and grew. We usually think of x as a quantity that we can vary; and, regarding the variation of x as a sort of cause, we consider the resulting variation of y as an effect. In other words, we regard the value of y as depending on that of x. Both x and y are variables, but x is the one that we operate upon, and y is the “dependent variable”. In all the preceding chapters we have been trying to find out rules for the proportion which the dependent variation in y bears to the variation independently made in x.