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Find the slope and y-intercept of the line through the points (-3,-4) and (0,-1)

User Aldon
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1 Answer

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The equation of any straight line, called a linear equation, can be written as: y = mx + b, where m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept.

The slope m of this line can be calculated like this:

m = change in y-value / change in x-value


we are given (x₁,y₁) as (-3,-4) and (x₂,y₂) as (0,-1)

so slope m is:

m = (y₂ - y₁) / (x₂ -x₁)

= -1 - (-4) / 0 -(-3)

= 3 / 3

= 1


You can find the y-intercept by looking at the graph and seeing which point crosses the y axis. This point will always have an x coordinate of zero.

Now,

y = x + b (since the value of m has been calculated as 1 as shown above)

b = y - x

⇒b = -4 - (-3) [if we put in the values from our first point (-3, -4)]

⇒b = -1 is the y intercept

Note:

if we put in the values from our second point (0, -1) in b = y - x, then also we get b = -1 as the y intercept

User Ddjikic
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