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Find the equation of the linear function represented by the table below inslope-intercept form.

Find the equation of the linear function represented by the table below inslope-intercept-example-1
User Launchpadmcquack
by
2.7k points

1 Answer

12 votes
12 votes

The best way to assess a function when they give us the (x, y) pairs, is by plotting them.

I am adding below a plot of the data points (just give me a few seconds for the drawing to complete)

We can see that indeed the plotted values form a line, therefore there is a linear equation that represents this relationship.

Notice that the "slope" of the line will result as a negative value, and also the y-intercept will be negative.

We use any two pair of points to find the slope:

for example the points (-2, 4) and (1, -5)

slope = (y2 - y1) / (x2 - x1)

in our case:

slope = (-5 - 4) /(1 - -2) = -9 / 3 = -3

The slope is -3 and we can use now the point-slope form of a line to find the equation:

y - y1 = m (x - x1)

y - 4 = -3 (x - -2)

y - 4 = -3 (x + 2)

y - 4 = -3 x - 6

add 4 to both sides:

y = - 3 x - 2

This is the equation of the line in slope-intercept form.

Find the equation of the linear function represented by the table below inslope-intercept-example-1
User Amandine
by
3.1k points
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