Subject: slope-intercept form
Name: Kilihea
Who are you: Student

Hi,

I need some help with the following problem. I need to graph this equation
but first need to turn it into a slope-intercept form.

6x - 3y = -3

I would really appreciate it if you could help me turn it into a slope-intercept
form. Thank you so much, Kilihea

Hi Kilihea,

The slope-intercept form of a line is

y = mx + b

If you write an equation in this form then m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. This is an extremely useful form if you are to sketch the graph since b tells you a point on the curve (0, b) and m. I am going to illustrate with a different line,

6x - 2y = 4.

The point intercept form is y = mx + b so I want y alone on the left of the equality so add -6x to both sides to obtain

6x - 2y - 6x = 4 - 6x
-2y = 4 - 6x

In the point slope form however the coefficient of y is 1 not -2, so divide both sides of the equation by -2.

 ^-2y/_-2 = ^{(4 - 6x)}/_-2

y = ⁴/_-2 - ^6x/_-2

y = -2 + 3x
y = 3x - 2

Penny