Exercise 1 Page 702

We are told y varies inversely with x. Knowing this, we want to write an equation that models this inverse variation. Let's recall the general form of an inverse variation. xy=kIn this formula, k is the constant of variation and it cannot equal 0. To find its value we will substitute the given values, x=17 and y=- 3, into the formula.

xy=k

SubstituteII

x= 17, y= - 3

17( - 3) = k

MultPosNeg

a(- b)=- a * b

- 51=k

RearrangeEqn

Rearrange equation

k=- 51

Now that we know k=- 51, we can write the equation of the inverse variation. xy=- 51 or y=- 51/x