The experiment to help Lillian's parents will consist of planting various carrots using both kinds of fertilizers, and maintaining a constant carrot type, amount of light, and amount of water throughout each plant.
In order to perform an accurate experiment, we need to identify three kinds of variables:
- Independent variable
- Dependent variable
- Control variable
In an experiment, the Independent variable is one <u>whose value does not depend on the others</u>. What this means is that this variable will not react to changes that occur in others. In this experiment, the independent variable is the fertilizer, given that it is not affected by the species of carrot, type of soil, or any other variable present.
The dependent variable in an experiment is just the opposite, it is, as the name implies, a variable whose value depends on the other variables present. In an experiment, this variable represents the data that we seek to measure. For this experiment, the dependent variable is the growth rate of the carrots because it is affected by the amount of water, light, and type of fertilizer we use, as well as being what we wish to measure.
Finally, the last variable we must identify is that of the control variable, also known as the constant or standardized variable. This variable is of vital importance for the accuracy of any experiment. This variable corresponds to those <u>factors which we maintain constant through each trial in the experiment,</u> for the example above, <em>it is the amount of </em><em>water </em><em>and </em><em>light</em><em>, as well as the </em><em>type </em><em>of </em><em>carrot</em>, Lillian's parents will use.
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