Identify the y-intercept. Then, find another point that lies on the grid.
y=-1/2x-1
Practice makes perfect
Equations written in slope-intercept form follow a specific format.
y= mx+ b
In this form, m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. We need to identify these values using the graph.
y-intercept
The y-intercept is the y-value where the line crosses the y-axis.
We can see that the function intercepts the y-axis at (0, -1). This means that the value of b is -1.
y= mx+( -1) ⇔ y= mx- 1
Slope
To find the slope, we will trace along the line on the given graph until we find a lattice point, which is a point that lies perfectly on the grid lines. Doing so, we can identify the slope m using the rise and run of the graph.
Here, we have identified the x-intercept at (-2,0) as our other point. Traveling to the y-intercept from this point requires that we move 2 steps horizontally in the positive direction and 1 step vertically in the negative direction.
rise/run=-1/2 ⇔ m= -1/2
Writing the Equation
Now that we have the slope and the y-intercept, we can write our final equation.
y= -1/2x- 1
