Parametric Equations

In calculus, you worked with parametric equations where you would have a three variable system, with t, x, and y. Both x and y were functions of t, and so you picked different t values, and then plotted points based on the resulting x and y variables.

Example:

Set x = 2t and y = 3t-1

t x y
1 2 2
2 4 5
3 6 8
10 20 29




The variable 'c' appears in both the function for the y-axis and the x-axis. You will vary 'c' as you plot data points for the Zimm plot. The Zimm plot will have several parametric plots (straight lines), with each parametric line corresponding to a different scattering angle, as shown below:







Last Update- September 9, 1995- wld