The distance the spring stretches depends upon the amount of mass that is hanging from the spring, so the distance stretched x is the dependent variable. For example, if we wanted to predict how much ...The distance the spring stretches depends upon the amount of mass that is hanging from the spring, so the distance stretched x is the dependent variable. For example, if we wanted to predict how much the spring will stretch when Aditya and Tami attach a 22 gram mass, then we would locate 22 grams on the horizontal axis, draw a vertical line upward to the “line of best fit,” followed by a horizontal line to the vertical axis, as shown in Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)(a).
