Graphing Linear Functions
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Math › Graphing Linear Functions
Determine where the graphs of the following equations will intersect.
Explanation
We can solve the system of equations using the substitution method.
Solve for in the second equation.
Substitute this value of into the first equation.
Now we can solve for .
Solve for using the first equation with this new value of
.
The solution is the ordered pair .
Solve:
No solutions
Infinitely many solutions
Explanation
Use substution to solve this problem:
becomes
and then is substituted into the second equation. Then solve for
:
, so
and
to give the solution
.
Determine where the graphs of the following equations will intersect.
Explanation
We can solve the system of equations using the substitution method.
Solve for in the second equation.
Substitute this value of into the first equation.
Now we can solve for .
Solve for using the first equation with this new value of
.
The solution is the ordered pair .
Solve for the - and
- intercepts:
Explanation
To solve for the -intercept, set
to zero and solve for
:
To solve for the -intercept, set
to zero and solve for
:
What is the equation of the line passing through (-1,4) and (2,6)?
Explanation
To find the equation of this line, first find the slope. Recall that slope is the change in y over the change in x: . Then, pick a point and use the slope to plug into the point-slope formula (
):
. Distribute and simplify so that you solve for y:
.

What is the equation of the above line?
Explanation
The equation of a line is with m being the slope and b being the y intercept. The y-intercept is at
, so
. The x-intercept is
, so after plugging in the equation becomes
, simplifying to
.
Find the slope-intercept form of an equation of the line that has a slope of and passes through
.
Explanation
Since we know the slope and we know a point on the line we can use those two piece of information to find the y-intercept.
Determine the slope of a line that has points and
.
Explanation
Slope is the change of a line. To find this line one can remember it as rise over run. This rise over run is really the change in the y direction over the change in the x direction.
Therefore the formula for slope is as follows.
Plugging in our given points
and
,
.

Which of the following inequalities is graphed above?
Explanation
First, we determine the equation of the boundary line. This line includes points and
, so the slope can be calculated as follows:
Since we also know the -intercept is
, we can substitute
in the slope-intercept form to obtain the equation of the boundary line:
The boundary is included, as is indicated by the line being solid, so the equality symbol is replaced by either or
. To find out which one, we can test a point in the solution set - for ease, we will choose
:
0 is less than 3 so the correct symbol is .
The inequality is .

Which of the following inequalities is graphed above?
Explanation
First, we determine the equation of the boundary line. This line includes points and
, so the slope can be calculated as follows:
Since we also know the -intercept is
, we can substitute
in the slope-intercept form to obtain the equation of the boundary line:
The boundary is included, as is indicated by the line being solid, so the equality symbol is replaced by either or
. To find out which one, we can test a point in the solution set - for ease, we will choose
:
0 is less than 3 so the correct symbol is .
The inequality is .