Question

I am in need of assistance

1. Explain how to find the x - and y- intercepts of a line given its equation

2. Sketch the graph of a function whose x- and y- intercepts are both negative. Label the intercepts

Answer 1

1. To find the x-intercept, replace y in the equation with 0, then solve for x.

... To find the y-intercept, replace x in the equation with 0, then solve for y.

If the equation is easily put into the form

... x/a + y/b = 1

Then the x-intercept is "a" and the y-intercept is "b".

2. Let's graph 3x+4y = -12.

If we divide the equation by -12, we can put it into the form

.. x/(-4) + y/(-3) = 1

This equation has x-intercept -4 and y-intercept -3.

(If you know the intercepts, you can simply draw the line through them to graph your linear equation.)