For a science fair project, a student conducted an experiment on which type of cheese contained the most bacteria. He used three different types of cheese and measured each for bacteria content.
Which was the test variable (independent variable) in this experiment?
the amount of bacteria
the type of cheese
the type of bacteria
the number of types of cheese in the experiment
The test variable (independent variable) in this experiment is the type of cheese.
Explanation: The independent variable is the factor that is changed or controlled in an experiment to test its effects on the dependent variable. In this case, the student is varying the types of cheese to observe how this affects the amount of bacteria present, which is the dependent variable.