Graphing Equations.
When an equation has the variables
and
for example
or
the
graph of that equation is the collection of all the points
that make the equation true. Typically when you plot all these points on the Cartesian plane, you end up with a line or curve.
Given an equation in
and
and a point
you might want to know if that point is on the graph of that equation. To determine this, you can substitute the
- and
-values from the point into the equation and see if it boils down to a true or false equation.
How do you draw a graph, given an equation with
and
There are many valid methods depending on the equation, but the most fundamental tool you can use is to just make up some
-values and then use the equation to solve for the corresponding
-values. Then you have so many points you can plot as dots. With enough of these, you hopefully see a pattern and can connect the dots in a smooth way.
Example 3.2.6 demonstrates this process.
Slope.
When you take any two points on a straight (non-vertical) line, the rate of change is always the same no matter which two points you choose. We call this common rate of change the
slope of the line. It is usually represented by the symbol
Slope can be calculated using the same formula as for rate of change in general:
where
and
can be
any two points on the line.
A useful mantra for slope is “rise over run”, because graphically as you move from
and
the amount you “rise” by is
and the amount you “run” by is
However, it is recommended that you get in the habit of thinking about the “run” as coming logically first, and the “rise” being a consequence of the run.
Slope triangles can be drawn onto the graph of a line to illustrate a “run” and its corresponding “rise”.
The sign of a slope has meaning:
A positive slope means the line tends upward as you follow it from left to right.
A negative slope means the line tends downward as you follow it from left to right.
A slope of means the line is horizontal.
Also the larger a slope is, the more steep the line.
In an application setting, if some quantity is growing at a constant rate over time, that rate that it is growing is the slope of a line that you would have if you were to draw a graph where time is the horizontal axis, and that quantity is the vertical axis.
Slope-Intercept Form.
If a line equation is written in the form
(where
and
are numbers,
and
are variables) then it is said to be in
slope-intercept form. The number
is the slope of the line, and the point
is the
-intercept of the line. Slope-intercept form is useful because you can immediately see the slope and the
-intercept.
Graphing a line equation that is in slope-intercept form can be done by first marking the
-intercept at
on the
-axis, and then using slope triangles based on the slope
Conversely, you might need to write down a line’s equation in slope-intercept form. If you have a way to determine the slope and the
-intercept, then all you need to do is write down
with the appropriate values for
and
For example if you have a graph of a line, you can see the value of
where the line crosses the
-axis. And you can use a slope triangle to determine the slope
Then writing
gives you an equation for the line.
If
or
you don’t need to write
you can just write
or
And if
you don’t need to write
you can just write
In an application setting, if you know the constant rate at which something is growing over time, that is the slope
And if you know the initial value that the quantity had when the time
was
that is the value for
And so
models that quantity growing over time.
Point-Slope Form.
If you know the slope of a line is
and you know one point that the line passes through is
then one equation for that line is
and that is said to be in
point-slope form.
Point-slope form is valuable because it allows you to work with an equation for a line and not directly care where the
-intercept is. Instead, you can work with any other point on the line,
The
-intercept happens where
is
and in context, that might be meaningless.
Students need to become used to the subtraction sign in front of
and the addition sign in front of
The different signs can cause confusion. But note that if you substitute
in for
then the entire block
is zeroed out and you are left with only
This might help you remember those signs.
Usually you should resist the temptation to convert a point-slope form line equation into slope-intercept form. One exception is when you want to find the line’s
-intercept quickly.
Graphing a line equation that is in point slope form is straightforward. First, identify the special point that is being used,
and mark that point. Then use slope triangles based on the slope
to extend the line.
In an application setting, if you know the constant rate at which something is growing over time, that is the slope
And if you know some piece of data about one point in time, that tells you a special point
And so
models that quantity growing over time.
Standard Form.
A line can be presented with an equation in the form
and this is called
standard form. In standard form, the
is not isolated. And
and
have symmetric roles on the left side of the equation.
Standard form can be useful in an application context where neither the
quantity nor the
quantity come logically first.
Unlike slope-intercept and point-slope forms, there is no direct meaning to the numbers in a standard form equation. The
and
don’t directly tell you anything about the line’s graph. However:
The line’s slope is
The line’s -intercept is
The line’s -intercept is
With a line equation in standard form, it is easy to find the
- and
-intercepts, even if you don’t memorize the facts listed above. You can just substitute
when looking for the
-intercept, and substitute
when looking for the
-intercept.
For this reason, when trying to plot a line from an equation in standard form, it might be easiest to locate the intercepts and plot them. Then connect those points and extend to make a straight line.
Geometry of Lines.
Horizontal lines have equations of the form
for some fixed number
The slope of a horizontal line is
Vertical lines have equations of the form
for some fixed number
Vertical lines do not have slope at all (not to be confused with having slope
).
Two vertical lines are parallel. If neither line is vertical, the two lines are parallel if and only if they have the same slope. If you have two lines and need to determine whether or not they are parallel, find each line’s slope. Only when they have the exact same slope will the two lines be parallel.
Two lines are perpendicular when one is horizontal and the other is vertical. But if neither line is vertical, then they are perpendicular if and only if when you multiply their slopes together, the result is
In other words, the two slopes are negative reciprocals of each other.