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8th grade
Course: 8th grade > Unit 3
Lesson 7: Writing slope-intercept equations- Slope-intercept equation from graph
- Writing slope-intercept equations
- Slope-intercept equation from graph
- Slope-intercept equation from slope & point
- Slope-intercept equation from two points
- Slope-intercept from two points
- Slope-intercept form problems
- Slope-intercept form from a table
- Slope-intercept form review
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Slope-intercept form problems
Learn how to solve problems involving writing an equation in slope-intercept form. Created by Sal Khan.
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- Isn't double minus sign incorrect? Shouldn't be there parentheses? Like 5 - (-2) instead of 5 - -2(16 votes)
- Yes, there should be parentheses separating the minus signs.(13 votes)
- How do I write the slope-intercept form of the equation of the line through: (3,-2), if the slope is undefined?(5 votes)
- Hi,
If a slope is undefined, it means that the x value does not change. Remember that slope is calculated as the change in the y value divided by the change in the x value. If x does not change, then we are dividing by zero, which is undefined. Therefore, an undefined slope is a vertical line through the point you were given.
You cannot really write it in a correct slope/intercept form. Usually this is written as:
x=whatever the x value of your point is.
In your case, the equation would be
x=3
And the graph would be a vertical line running through the 3 on the x axis.
Hope that helps :-)(16 votes)
- At, when you had 0=5/6(-3)+b, why did you divide by 3 instead of multiply? And why only the 3 and 6 and not the 5? 8:20(4 votes)
- To multply 5/6 (-3):
Change -3 into a fraction: 5/6 (-3/1)
You now have 2 choices:
Option 1) You can multiply the 2 fractions. Multiplying fractions means you multiply numerator * numerator and denominator * denominator. Then reduce.
5/6 (-3/1) = -15/6 = -5/2
Option 2) You can reduce 1st. Reducing cancels out a common factor from the numerator to the denominator. As long as fractions are being multiplied, you can cancel across fractions. This is what Sal did. Sal cancelled out a factor of 3 from -1 and 6.
5/6 (-3/1) = 5/2 (-1/1) = -5/2
Hope this helps.
You may want to review multiplying and reducing fractions.(9 votes)
- I didn't understand the equation f(1.5)=-3,f(-1)=2?(3 votes)
- This is because our function here is
f(x
)=(x
)-2
So each time we put in a value ofx
we multiply it by -2
Ex.
f(1.5
)=(1.5
)*-2=-3
f(-1
)=(-1
)*-2=2(4 votes)
- The question was asked thatg the line contains two points. You took 0-5 and -3-3. The other question was f(1,5) = -3, f (-1) = 2. You subtracted 2- (-3). How do i know which side to subtract. How do i know what y2 , y1 , x1 and x2 is?(3 votes)
- It doesn't matter which point you may (x1, y1) vs (x2, y2).
If you do the math correctly, you will get the same slope.
Just pick one point and label it (x1, y1). Next, label the other as (x2, y2). Then, plug the values into the slope formula.(3 votes)
- Are graphs a effective way to represent data(3 votes)
- I'm having some problems with this question for some math homework, I've watched the video, but it doesn't seem to help me with my question. The question is: (3, -3), slope 3.
Can someone walk me through the question?(3 votes)- All you need is to find the y intercept.
With the slope intercept formula, y=mx+b, every point works, so we can plug in point and slope. - 3 = 3(3)+b
-3 = 9 + b subtract 0 on both sides to find b
-12 = b
Plug it back into the equation: y = 3x - 12.(3 votes)
- At, Sal divides -3 by 3 and then -3 by 6. Why does he divide -3 by 3 and -3 by 6, but not -3 by 5? 7:54(2 votes)
- Sal is multiplying: (5/6)(-3) = -15/6
When we reduce fractions, we remove any common factors from the numerator and denominator. The common factor is 3. The simplifies the fraction into -5/2.
Sal chose to cross cancel (cancel out the common factor, then complete the multiplication.
Hope this helps.(5 votes)
- Can someone please explain to me why he used 6-0 verses 0-6 in his third problem. I thought when finding slope it was y2-y1 not y1-y2. I am extremely stuck on why he did this.Can you do it both ways or is there only one way?(3 votes)
- It doesn't matter which point you call (x1,y1) vs (x2,y2). You will get the same result.(3 votes)
- how do you figure out what the slope intercept is?(3 votes)
- First, find the slope. y1 - y2/x1 - x2
Next, plug the slope and one of the coordinates into this equation: y = (slope)x + (y-intercept)
Afterwards, solve the algebraic equation.
Last, write out the equation.
y = (slope)x + (y-intercept)(3 votes)
Video transcript
In this video I'm going to do a
bunch of examples of finding the equations of lines in
slope-intercept form. Just as a bit of a review, that
means equations of lines in the form of y is equal to mx
plus b where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. So let's just do a bunch of
these problems. So here they tell us that a line has a slope
of negative 5, so m is equal to negative 5. And it has a y-intercept of 6. So b is equal to 6. So this is pretty
straightforward. The equation of this line
is y is equal to negative 5x plus 6. That wasn't too bad. Let's do this next
one over here. The line has a slope of negative
1 and contains the point 4/5 comma 0. So they're telling us the slope,
slope of negative 1. So we know that m is equal to
negative 1, but we're not 100% sure about where the y-intercept
is just yet. So we know that this equation
is going to be of the form y is equal to the slope negative
1x plus b, where b is the y-intercept. Now, we can use this coordinate
information, the fact that it contains this
point, we can use that information to solve for b. The fact that the line contains
this point means that the value x is equal to 4/5, y
is equal to 0 must satisfy this equation. So let's substitute those in.
y is equal to 0 when x is equal to 4/5. So 0 is equal to negative
1 times 4/5 plus b. I'll scroll down a little bit. So let's see, we get a 0 is
equal to negative 4/5 plus b. We can add 4/5 to both sides
of this equation. So we get add a 4/5 there. We could add a 4/5 to
that side as well. The whole reason I did that is
so that cancels out with that. You get b is equal to 4/5. So we now have the equation
of the line. y is equal to negative 1 times
x, which we write as negative x, plus b, which is 4/5,
just like that. Now we have this one. The line contains the point
2 comma 6 and 5 comma 0. So they haven't given us the
slope or the y-intercept explicitly. But we could figure out both
of them from these coordinates. So the first thing we can do
is figure out the slope. So we know that the slope m is
equal to change in y over change in x, which is equal to--
What is the change in y? Let's start with this
one right here. So we do 6 minus 0. Let me do it this way. So that's a 6-- I want to make
it color-coded-- minus 0. So 6 minus 0, that's
our change in y. Our change in x is 2
minus 2 minus 5. The reason why I color-coded
it is I wanted to show you when I used this y term first,
I used the 6 up here, that I have to use this x term
first as well. So I wanted to show you, this
is the coordinate 2 comma 6. This is the coordinate
5 comma 0. I couldn't have swapped
the 2 and the 5 then. Then I would have gotten the
negative of the answer. But what do we get here? This is equal to
6 minus 0 is 6. 2 minus 5 is negative 3. So this becomes negative 6
over 3, which is the same thing as negative 2. So that's our slope. So, so far we know that the line
must be, y is equal to the slope-- I'll do that in
orange-- negative 2 times x plus our y-intercept. Now we can do exactly what we
did in the last problem. We can use one of these
points to solve for b. We can use either one. Both of these are on the line,
so both of these must satisfy this equation. I'll use the 5 comma 0 because
it's always nice when you have a 0 there. The math is a little
bit easier. So let's put the 5
comma 0 there. So y is equal to 0 when
x is equal to 5. So y is equal to 0 when you have
negative 2 times 5, when x is equal to 5 plus b. So you get 0 is equal
to -10 plus b. If you add 10 to both sides of
this equation, let's add 10 to both sides, these
two cancel out. You get b is equal to
10 plus 0 or 10. So you get b is equal to 10. Now we know the equation
for the line. The equation is y-- let me do it
in a new color-- y is equal to negative 2x plus b plus 10. We are done. Let's do another one of these. All right, the line contains
the points 3 comma 5 and negative 3 comma 0. Just like the last problem, we
start by figuring out the slope, which we will call m. It's the same thing as the rise
over the run, which is the same thing as the change
in y over the change in x. If you were doing this for your
homework, you wouldn't have to write all this. I just want to make sure that
you understand that these are all the same things. Then what is our change in
y over our change in x? This is equal to, let's start
with the side first. It's just to show you I could pick
either of these points. So let's say it's 0 minus
5 just like that. So I'm using this coordinate
first. I'm kind of viewing it as the endpoint. Remember when I first learned
this, I would always be tempted to do the x
in the numerator. No, you use the y's
in the numerator. So that's the second
of the coordinates. That is going to be over
negative 3 minus 3. This is the coordinate
negative 3, 0. This is the coordinate 3, 5. We're subtracting that. So what are we going to get? This is going to be equal to--
I'll do it in a neutral color-- this is going to be
equal to the numerator is negative 5 over negative 3
minus 3 is negative 6. So the negatives cancel out. You get 5/6. So we know that the equation is
going to be of the form y is equal to 5/6 x plus b. Now we can substitute one of
these coordinates in for b. So let's do. I always like to use the one
that has the 0 in it. So y is a zero when x is
negative 3 plus b. So all I did is I substituted
negative 3 for x, 0 for y. I know I can do that because
this is on the line. This must satisfy the equation
of the line. Let's solve for b. So we get zero is equal to, well
if we divide negative 3 by 3, that becomes a 1. If you divide 6 by 3,
that becomes a 2. So it becomes negative
5/2 plus b. We could add 5/2 to both
sides of the equation, plus 5/2, plus 5/2. I like to change my notation
just so you get familiar with both. So the equation becomes 5/2 is
equal to-- that's a 0-- is equal to b. b is 5/2. So the equation of our line is
y is equal to 5/6 x plus b, which we just figured out
is 5/2, plus 5/2. We are done. Let's do another one. We have a graph here. Let's figure out the equation
of this graph. This is actually, on some level,
a little bit easier. What's the slope? Slope is change in y
over change it x. So let's see what happens. When we move in x, when our
change in x is 1, so that is our change in x. So change in x is 1. I'm just deciding to change
my x by 1, increment by 1. What is the change in y? It looks like y changes
exactly by 4. It looks like my delta y, my
change in y, is equal to 4 when my delta x is equal to 1. So change in y over change in
x, change in y is 4 when change in x is 1. So the slope is equal to 4. Now what's its y-intercept? Well here we can just
look at the graph. It looks like it intersects
y-axis at y is equal to negative 6, or at the
point 0, negative 6. So we know that b is equal
to negative 6. So we know the equation
of the line. The equation of the line is y is
equal to the slope times x plus the y-intercept. I should write that. So minus 6, that is plus
negative 6 So that is the equation of our line. Let's do one more of these. So they tell us that f of
1.5 is negative 3, f of negative 1 is 2. What is that? Well, all this is just a fancy
way of telling you that the point when x is 1.5, when you
put 1.5 into the function, the function evaluates
as negative 3. So this tells us that the
coordinate 1.5, negative 3 is on the line. Then this tells us that the
point when x is negative 1, f of x is equal to 2. This is just a fancy way of
saying that both of these two points are on the line,
nothing unusual. I think the point of this
problem is to get you familiar with function notation, for you
to not get intimidated if you see something like this. If you evaluate the function
at 1.5, you get negative 3. So that's the coordinate if
you imagine that y is equal to f of x. So this would be the
y-coordinate. It would be equal to negative
3 when x is 1.5. Anyway, I've said it
multiple times. Let's figure out the
slope of this line. The slope which is change in y
over change in x is equal to, let's start with 2 minus this
guy, negative 3-- these are the y-values-- over, all
of that over, negative 1 minus this guy. Let me write it this way,
negative 1 minus that guy, minus 1.5. I do the colors because I want
to show you that the negative 1 and the 2 are both coming from
this, that's why I use both of them first. If I used
these guys first, I would have to use both the x and the y
first. If I use the 2 first, I have to use the negative
1 first. That's why I'm color-coding it. So this is going to be equal
to 2 minus negative 3. That's the same thing
as 2 plus 3. So that is 5. Negative 1 minus 1.5
is negative 2.5. 5 divided by 2.5
is equal to 2. So the slope of this
line is negative 2. Actually I'll take a little
aside to show you it doesn't matter what order
I do this in. If I use this coordinate first,
then I have to use that coordinate first. Let's
do it the other way. If I did it as negative 3
minus 2 over 1.5 minus negative 1, this should be minus
the 2 over 1.5 minus the negative 1. This should give me
the same answer. This is equal to what? Negative 3 minus 2 is negative
5 over 1.5 minus negative 1. That's 1.5 plus 1. That's over 2.5. So once again, this is
equal the negative 2. So I just wanted to show you,
it doesn't matter which one you pick as the starting or
the endpoint, as long as you're consistent. If this is the starting y,
this is the starting x. If this is the finishing
y, this has to be the finishing x. But anyway, we know that the
slope is negative 2. So we know the equation is y is
equal to negative 2x plus some y-intercept. Let's use one of these
coordinates. I'll use this one since it
doesn't have a decimal in it. So we know that y
is equal to 2. So y is equal to 2 when x
is equal to negative 1. Of course you have
your plus b. So 2 is equal to negative 2
times negative 1 is 2 plus b. If you subtract 2 from both
sides of this equation, minus 2, minus 2, you're subtracting
it from both sides of this equation, you're going to get
0 on the left-hand side is equal to b. So b is 0. So the equation of our
line is just y is equal to negative 2x. Actually if you wanted to write
it in function notation, it would be that f of x is
equal to negative 2x. I kind of just assumed that
y is equal to f of x. But this is really
the equation. They never mentioned y's here. So you could just write f of x
is equal to 2x right here. Each of these coordinates
are the coordinates of x and f of x. So you could even view the
definition of slope as change in f of x over change in x. These are all equivalent ways
of viewing the same thing.