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| 17 Theory slides |
| 11 Exercises - Grade E - A |
| Each lesson is meant to take 1-2 classroom sessions |
Here is a recommended reading before getting started with this lesson.
The intercepts of a line provide information about the position of the line in the coordinate plane. They can be used to identify the equation of a line from known points or to graph a line from its equation.
The applet shows the graphs of different lines. Identify the intercepts of these lines.
A linear equation is an equation with at least one linear term and any number of constants. No other types of terms may be included. Linear equations in one variable have the following form, where a and b are real numbers and a=0.
Linear equations in two variables have the form below, where a, b, and c are real numbers and a=0 and b=0.
A linear equation can be written in the following form called the slope-intercept form.
y=mx+b
In this form, m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. These are the general characteristics or parameters of the line. They determine the steepness and the position of the line on the coordinate plane. Consider the following graph.
This line has a slope of 2 and a y-intercept of 1. The equation of the line can be written in slope-intercept form using these values.
The following applet generates linear equations. Those equations represent the relation between two variables x and y. Determine whether the generated equation is in slope-intercept form.
Jordan is investigating the fish population in Grassy Lake. The number of fish in the lake was counted as 60 in 2016.
She finds out that the population increases by 120 after each year. The following equation represents the fish population in the lake.y-intercept: Number of fish in the year 2016
Next, move 1 unit to the right and 120 units up from the y-intercept to plot another point.
Finally, the graph of the equation can be competed by drawing a line passing through these two points.
Note that the number of years passed or the number of fish cannot be negative. Therefore, only the first quadrant of the coordinate plane is shown.
The y-intercept is the y-coordinate of the point where the line crosses the y-axis. This line intercepts the y-axis at (0,-4), which means that the y-intercept is -4.
Jordan turns her attention to the cheetah population over years.
She finds a graph on the Internet that shows the number of cheetahs over years since 1900.
Jordan wants to represent the graph algebraically to interpret it further.
y-intercept: Number of cheetahs in the year 1900
rise=-40000, run=50
Put minus sign in front of fraction
Calculate quotient
y=0
LHS+800x=RHS+800x
LHS/800=RHS/800
Calculate quotient
Substitute (-4,1) & (8,4)
a−(-b)=a+b
Add and subtract terms
Calculate quotient
x=8, y=4
Multiply
LHS−2=RHS−2
Rearrange equation
Jordan is interested in endangered animals. She reads a magazine to learn what can be done to save these animals.
Suppose Jordan reads the same number of pages each day. The following table shows the number of pages y left in the magazine after x days.
Number of Days x | 5 | 9 | 15 |
---|---|---|---|
Number of Pages y | 147 | 95 | 17 |
Write an equation for the given situation in slope-intercept form using the Slope Formula.
Number of Days x | 5 | 9 | 15 |
---|---|---|---|
Number of Pages y | 147 | 95 | 17 |
Point (x,y) | (5,147) | (9,95) | (15,17) |
Substitute (5,147) & (9,95)
Subtract terms
Put minus sign in front of fraction
Calculate quotient
x=15, y=17
(-a)b=-ab
LHS+195=RHS+195
Rearrange equation
Write an equation in slope-intercept form using the given line, two points, or equation.
Determine the slope or y-intercept the given line based on its graph, points, or its equation. Be careful — the equation may or may not be written in slope-intercept form!
Substitute (0,b) & (x,y)
Subtract term
LHS⋅x=RHS⋅x
xa⋅x=a
LHS+b=RHS+b
Rearrange equation
The table below shows the relation between degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit.
∘C | -20 | -10 | 0 | 5 | 15 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
∘F | -4 | 14 | 32 | 41 | 59 |
We want to write an equation in slope-intercept form for the given table. y= mx+ b In this form, m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. Let x represent the degrees Celsius and y represent the degrees Fahrenheit. We can now choose any two ordered pairs from the table to find the slope of the equation.
^(∘) C | -20 | -10 | 0 | 5 | 15 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
^(∘) F | -4 | 14 | 32 | 41 | 59 |
Let's use ( 5, 41) and ( 15, 59). We can substitute these points into the slope formula and simplify to find the slope of the line. Let's do it!
The slope of the equation is 95. Next, we will find the y-intercept of the equation. To make this easier, let's find an ordered pair with an x-coordinate 0.
^(∘) C | -20 | -10 | 0 | 5 | 15 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
^(∘) F | -4 | 14 | 32 | 41 | 59 |
The line of the equation intercepts the y-axis at (0,32). Therefore, the y-intercept is 32. Let's substitute the values of the slope and y-intercept into the slope-intercept form to write our equation. y= mx+ b ⇒ y= 9/5x+ 32 The equation in slope-intercept form that represents the values in the table is y= 95x+32.
Jordan says the equation of the line given below is y=31x−2. Tadeo says that the equation of the line is y=-31x+2.
We want to decide who is correct about the equation of the given line. Notice that both equations are in slope-intercept form. Jordan:& y= 1/3x-2 ⇔ y= 1/3x+( -2) [0.8em] Tadeo:& y=-1/3x+2 ⇔ y= -1/3x+ 2 Let's also write an equation of the line in slope-intercept form. We will first find the slope of the line. We can choose two points on the line, then use them to determine the rise and run.
The rise is 1 and the run is 3. Remember, the slope is the ratio of the rise to the run. m=rise/run ⇒ m=1/3 The slope of the line is 13. We can also see that the line intercepts the y-axis at (0,-2). This means that the y-intercept is -2. Let's substitute these values in slope-intercept form. y= mx+ b ⇓ y= 1/3x+( -2) The equation of the line is y= 13x-2. This means that Jordan is correct!
We want to graph and interpret the slope and the y-intercept of the following equation. y=0.5x + 3 We can see that the equation is written in slope-intercept form, so let's begin by identifying its slope and y-intercept. y= 0.5x + 3 The slope is 0.5 and the y-intercept is 3. This means that the line of this equation intercepts the y-axis at (0,3). Let's plot this point on the coordinate plane.
We need a second point to graph the line. We already identified that the slope of the line is 0.5, but we can convert this decimal to a fraction to make it easier to use to find another point on the line. If the slope is 0.5= 12, the rise is 1 and the run is 2. Therefore, we move 2 unit right and 1 unit up from the y-intercept to plot the second point.
We can now graph a line that passes through these two points. Note that the number of miles cannot be negative. Therefore, the minimum value of x is 0. This means that the line will be drawn only in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane.
We have the graph! Now we need to interpret the slope and the y-intercept. Remember that the y-intercept of an equation is its initial value. In this context, this can be interpreted as the initial fee.
We can also see that the total charge increases by $0.50 per mile.
This means that the slope of the line is the charge per mile. The best option that describes this situation is option C.
The graph below shows the total earnings of salespeople in a company based on the sales they make.
We want to decide which of the given statements could be true for the given graph. Let's write an equation in slope-intercept form to verify the statements. y= mx+ b In this form, m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. We can see that the line intercepts the y-axis at (0,1500).
The y-intercept of the line is 1500. Next, we will find the slope of the line. Let's choose two points on the line.
We can calculate the slope by substituting these values into the Slope Formula.
The slope of the line is 110. Now that we have th slope and the y-intercept, let's write the equation of the line. y= mx+ b ⇒ y= 1/10x+ 1500 Our next step is to organize the given statements in a table.
Statement | Sales ($) | Total Earnings ($) |
---|---|---|
A | 5000 | 2500 |
B | 0 | 0 |
C | 15 000 | 3000 |
D | 17 500 | 3300 |
Finally, we will substitute these values into the equation of the line to see which statement is true.
Statement | Sales ($) | Total Earnings ($) | Substitute | Verify |
---|---|---|---|---|
A | 5000 | 2500 | 2500? =1/10( 5000)+1500 | 2500 ≠ 2000 |
B | 0 | 0 | 0? =1/10( 0)+1500 | 0 ≠ 1500 |
C | 15 000 | 3000 | 3000? =1/10( 15 000)+1500 | 3000 = 3000 |
D | 17 500 | 3300 | 3300? =1/10( 17 500)+1500 | 3300 ≠ 3250 |
We found that statement C is correct.