The mathematical purpose of this lesson is for students to make connections between different representations of the same situation. The work of this lesson connects to previous work done in grade 8 and an earlier unit in which students had to describe a function by interpreting the input and output values from a table. This lesson prepares students to make connections between verbal and tabular representations of linear and exponential functions in the associated Algebra 1 lesson. When students explain correspondences between equations, verbal descriptions, tables, and graphs, they are reasoning abstractly and quantitatively (MP2). The matching activity gives students opportunities to analyze representations, statements, and structures closely and make connections (MP7).