Question

planets the table below gives the mean distance from the sun and orbital period of the eight major planets in our solar system. think of the mean distance as the domain and the orbital period as the range of a relation. is this relation a function? explain.

Explanation:

A relation is a function if each element in the domain (mean distance from the Sun) is paired with exactly one element in the range (orbital period). Looking at the table, each mean - distance value (domain element) corresponds to only one orbital - period value (range element). For example, Mercury's mean distance of \(0.387\) AU is paired only with \(0.241\) years, Venus's mean distance of \(0.723\) AU is paired only with \(0.615\) years, and so on for all the planets. There are no two different orbital - period values for the same mean - distance value.

Answer:

Yes, this relation is a function. Each mean distance (domain value) is associated with exactly one orbital period (range value).