Graphing Linear Equations

Graphing linear equations can be done in different ways based on the form the equation is in.

Standard form §

Let our equation that is in standard form be

To get the point where the line intercepts the -axis “remove” from the equation above and solve for

Identically, to get the point where the line intercepts the -axis “remove” from the equation and solve for

Finally draw a straight line between the points and using the values of and we solve above.

Slope-intercept form §

Let our equation that is in slope-intercept form be

To get started the value of the coefficient (and think of it as the -egining of the intercept), so our starting point is , in our case .

Then we use the value of the coefficient , in our case , to get the second point. Add to and we get , then add the denominator of , in our case ¹ and we get as our second point.

Finally draw a straight line between the points and .

Footnotes §

1. can be represented as ↩