A note of caution

As a double reciprocal plot, the Lineweaver-Burk plot presents two problems when used with real life experimental data. First, all data found at large substrate concentrations will be clustered near the origin. Second, small experimental errors are magnified on Lineweaver-Burk plots, particularly for the points that lie far away from the origin. Thus relying too heavily on the points far from the origin can lead to inaccurate values of K_M and V_max.

To circumvent these problems, experimental data is often plotted on a Eadie-Hofstee plot, another linear form of the Michaelis-Menten plot or by computer programs that fit the data to the Michaelis-Menten equation itself.