The point at which a pump operates in a given piping system depends on the flow rate and head loss of that system. For a given system, volumetric flow rate is compared to system head loss on a system characteristic curve. By graphing a system characteristic curve and the pump characteristic curve on the same coordinate system, the point at which the pump must operate is identified. For example, in Figure 10, the operating point for the centrifugal pump in the original system is designated by the intersection of the pump curve and the system curve (hLo).