GCSE Maths - What Does Inversely Proportional Mean? #91

In the scenario of farmers picking apples, an inversely proportional relationship is discussed, where increasing the number of farmers decreases the time taken to pick the apples. This relationship is explained with the concept that as one variable increases, the other decreases proportionally, like when farmers double, the time halves. Such relationships can be represented graphically with a downward sloping curve or algebraically as equations, where time taken (t) is inversely proportional to the number of farmers (f), noted as t ∝ 1/f. By introducing a constant of proportionality (k), the relationship becomes t = k/f. The video further exemplifies the calculations using a specific value of k, demonstrating how to convert between time taken and number of farmers. Lastly, the video reiterates the concept of inverse proportionality, emphasizing that graphs of these relationships slope downwards and equations often take the form y = k/x.