Of course, to solve this problem we need to substitute x into the given linear equation. The equation of our line is y = 3x + 1. Let's follow these steps:
Step 1: Substitute x = 2.5 into the equation.
We get: y = 3*2.5 + 1.
Step 2: Calculate the multiplication part first, as per the rules of math operations (BIDMAS/BODMAS - Brackets, Indices/Orders, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction)
This means we calculate the value of 3*2.5 first, which equals 7.5.
So, our equation would look like this at this point: y = 7.5 + 1.
Step 3: The next step is to perform the addition.
When we calculate 7.5 + 1, we get 8.5.
Therefore, the value of y when x = 2.5 in the equation y = 3x + 1 is y = 8.5.