The slope of a line is how steep the graph of the line is, or the rate of change of the y-coordinates of the points of the graph as you go from left to right. In the equation of a line, slope is denoted by m. It’s not known why m is used, but you can think “m is for move” to help you remember it’s how fast the graph “moves” (changes).
Read MoreYou have two options for writing the equation of a line: point-slope form and slope-intercept form. Both of them require that you know at least two of the following pieces of information about the line: 1) a point, 2) another point, 3) the slope, m, or 4) the y-intercept, b (the y-coordinate of the point at which the graph of the line crosses the y-axis).
Read MoreTo find the scalar equation of a line, we’ll use the formulas x=x_0+at, y=y_0+bt, and z=z_0+ct, where P_0(x_0,y_0,z_0) is a given point and v=(a,b,c) is the given vector. The vector may also be in the format v=ai+bj+ck.
Read MoreThe nice thing about functions and their inverses is that if you know two points, say (a1, b1) and (a_2, b_2), on a function f(x), then two points on its inverse f^(x) need to be (b_1, a_1), and (b_2, a_2). This works out very nicely if we know two points on a line and we want to find the inverse function.
Read MoreA linear equation is the equation of a line. When you graph a linear equation, it’s best to write the equation in slope-intercept form: y=mx+b. Remember that m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept (the y-coordinate of the point at which the line crosses the y-axis).
Read MoreTo find the equation of a line in slope-intercept form, we’ll need at least two pieces of information about the line, which can be a point on the line, a second point on the line, the slope of the line, or the y-intercept of the line (the y-coordinate of the point at which the graph of the line crosses the y-axis). If we know any two of these things, we can find the equation of the line.
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