What is the standard convention when naming or mentioning graphs? That is, should I say "Y vs X" or "X vs Y"?

Question

The former seems correct; for instance, distance vs time. However, I'm not too sure...

Answer 1

When dealing with a specific plot, it is usual to say the dependent variable (the "y" axis) "versus" the independent one (the x axis). We would generically call that an X-Y plot, which does not follow that rule.



There is a distinction between a time versus distance graph (how long did it take to go 30 meters, say) and a distance versus time graph (how far did I go in ten seconds, say). The information is the same but the plot will be flipped, and by doing that, we change our idea of what it is that we have fixed (what we "know") and what we only found out by measuring against that fixed set of values.

Answer 2

Busterwasmycat is correct. The others are full of it.

Answer 3

Of course, we expect that the larger-capacity cards should cost more than the smaller-capacity ones, and if we plot cost vs capacity (graph on the right), we can ..... This is not to say that it is not worth the trouble to calculate the predicted standard deviations of slope and intercept, but keep in mind that these predictions are ...

Answer 4

X vs Y.

alphabetical order

Answer 5

Usually, Y is a function of X as demonstrated by the equation for a line y=mx+b. The comparative term vs, for versus, is not appropriate in a singe line graph. Now, if you have two different graphs and you are comparing distance to time over some relative or common basis the term versus could be appropriate.