Ohio Assessment for Educators (OAE) Integrated Science (024) Practice Exam

If two variables are inversely proportional, what happens to one variable when the other increases?

1. It also increases

2. It decreases

3. It stays the same

4. It becomes zero

The correct answer is: It decreases

When two variables are inversely proportional, it means that as one variable increases, the other variable must decrease in order to maintain a constant product. In mathematical terms, if one variable is represented as \(x\) and the other as \(y\), their relationship can be expressed as \(x \cdot y = k\), where \(k\) is a constant. If you increase \(x\), then to keep the product \(k\) constant, \(y\) must decrease. This reflects a fundamental aspect of inverse relationships — they are defined by their reciprocal behavior. The more one variable grows, the less the other can sustain its magnitude. Therefore, when one variable increases in an inversely proportional relationship, the other variable decreases, confirming that the answer is indeed that the second variable decreases.