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Slope Intercept Form

A way to express the equation of a line

The slope intercept form is probably the most frequently used way  to express equation of a line. To be able to use slope intercept form, all that you need to be able to do is 1) find the slope of a line and 2) find the y-intercept of a line.
 In general, the slope intercept form assumes the fomula: y= mx +b. Example:
    y=5x+3 is an example of the Slope Intercept Form and represents the equation of a line with a slope of 5 and and a y-intercept of 3 .

Slope Intercept Equation of vertical and horizontal lines


  • The Equation of a vetical line is x = b

    Since a vertical line goes straight up and down, its slope is undefined. Also, the x value of every point on a vertical line is the same. Therefore, whatever the x value is, is also the value of 'b'.
  • The equation of a horizontal is y = b where b is the y-intercept.
    . Since the slope of a horizontal line is 0, the general formula for the standard form equation , y = mx + b becomes y= 0x +b y = b. Also,since the line is horizontal, every point on that line has the exact same y value. This y-value is therefore also the y-intercept.

Interactive Slope Intercept Form


Try interactive Line below to explore the slope intercept form of a line

What is the slope intercept form of the line below?




Step 1) What is the slope of the line below? Slope intercept form of linear equation
 answer 




Step 3) What is the slope-intercept form of this line's equation?
 Slope Intercept Form of Line  



Look at the picture of the graph below. Find the slope of this line, its y-intercept, then express the equation of this line in slope intercept form


Slope intercept form of graph of line What is the slope of the line on the left?
 answer 

 answer 


What is the slope intercept form of this line?
 answer 


What is the slope intercept form of the line pictured in the graph below?

 answer 

Slope Intercept Form of Line in graph
What is the slope intercept form of the line pictured in the graph below?

 answer 

Slope Intercept Form of Line in graph

Write the slope intercept form for the lines equations
Problem 1) A line with a slope of 2 and a y-intercept of 12
 answer 

Problem 2) A line with a slope of 3 and a y-intercept of -5
 answer 


A common type of problem involves finding the full equation of a line, given the slope of a line and also one of points on the line .
    Steps to follow:
    Example
    : How to find the equation of a line that goes through the point (1, 3) and has a slope of 2.
    What we know from the problem: that the slope is 2 so we can write y = 2x + b
    Our goal: to find the y-intercept or "b"

    Step 1) Substitute the point (1,3) into equation y = 2x + b
    3 = 2(1) +b
    Step 2) Solve for b 3 = 2+b
    3-2 = 1= b
    Step 3) Now that we know b, all that we have to do is put it into the equation and we now have our line in slope intercept form  y = 2x+1
    Below is a picture of y = 2x + 1
    Equation of line from its slope and one point

Practice Problems


 Express the Equation in Slope Intercept Form  
Directions: For all questions below, express your answers using slope intercept form.

Write the equation of a line that has a slope of ½ and that goes through the point (2,3).
 answer 

If the slope of a line is 10 and the line goes through the point (3, 34), express the equation of this line in slope-intercept form.
 answer 

If the slope of a line is 3 and the line goes through the point (6,23), express the equation of this line in slope-intercept form.
 answer 

If the slope of a line is 0 and the line goes through the point (7,5), express the equation of this line in slope-intercept form.
 answer 
If the slope of a line is undefined and line goes through the point (-3, -13), express the equation of this line in slope-intercept form.
 answer 

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