Exercise 41 Page 248

where $m$ is the slope of the line and $b$ is the $y\text{-}$intercept. Thus, $a$ and $c$ represent the slopes of the lines while $b$ and $d$ represent the $y\text{-}$intercepts. It is given that We will begin by analyzing the $y\text{-}$intercepts. Since both $b$ and $d$ are greater than $0,$ both $y\text{-}$intercepts are positive, and thus lie above the $x\text{-}$axis. Additionally, since $b<d,$ $d$ lies further up the $y\text{-}$axis than $b.$ We can conceptually sketch the graphs $y\text{-}$intercepts as follows.

Now that we have placed the $y\text{-}$intercepts, we can sketch the lines using the slopes. Since $a<c,$ the slope of $y=cx+d$ will be steeper than the slope of $y=ax+b.$

From the graph, we can see that the lines intersect at a negative $x$ value. Thus, the solution to is negative.