Neither the 'x' nor the 'y' component should have any exponents (squared, cubed, square root, etc.) and therefore it should be a one-to-one ratio (each 'x' has one 'y' value and vice versa).
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You can easily tell by substituting 0 for a.
If the two equations are linear transformations of one another they have the same solution.
An equation is a statement that two things are equal. A function is a rule or process that gives you a value if you give it something in its domain (the set of things on which it is defined) as an argument. Functions on numbers that are defined by a rule can usually be expressed by an equation. A linear function is one that can be defined by a linear equation.
You can create a scatter plot of the two variables. This may tell you if there is a relationship and, if so, whether or not it is linear. If there seems to be a linear relationship, you can carry out a linear regression. Note that the absence of a linear relationship does not mean that there is no relationship. The coordinates of the points on a circle do not show a linear relationship: the correlation coefficient is zero but there is a perfect and simple relationship between the abscissa and the ordinate. Even if there is evidence of a linear relationship, it may be valid only within the range of observations: do not extrapolate. For example, the increase in temperature of a body is linearly related to the amount of heat energy aded. However, for a solid, there will come a stage when the additional heat will not increase the temperature but will be used to melt (or sublimate) the solid. So the linear relationship will be broken.
You can be certain if the equation is linear, that is, of the form ax + b = 0 where a and b are constants.