Cha Table ] has also shown that in the absence of inhibitor depletion Eqns (2)-(3) can be used to diagnose how many steps appear in the inhibition mechanism. In particular, if the plot of k obs data vs. the inhibitor concentration [I] 0 is distinctly hyperbolic, we can conclude there is an involvement of a intermediate complex. (Note however that, unlike the classic Michaelis-Menten type saturation curve, the hyperbola defined by Eqn (3) does not go through the origin of the coordinate system.) In contrast, a strictly linear plot of k obs vs. [I] 0 suggests that the inhibitor and enzyme associate in a single step. In that case the slope of the linear plot is identical to the association rate constant k on and the intercept is identical to the dissociation rate constant k off .