What is the formula for graphing linear equations?

Answer 1

Insufficient information to answer this question.

There is a procedure, not a formula, for graphing linear equations of the form

y = mx + n where m, n, are constants.

or

ax + by + c = 0 where a, b, c are constants.

The form of the equation does not reallt matter.

Select a set of values for x, say, 0, 1, 2, ... , 5.

Make a table with these values of x as one row. For each x, use the equation of the line to calculate the corresponding value of y and write it underneath the x in the table. Take each (x,y) pair from the table and mark its position on the coordinate plane (graph). Finally, join up the points with a straight line.

If you are confident enough you can use the following short cuts. If you make a mistake, though, you are sunk. With 5-6 points, a mistake will stick out and you should notice it. With only two points you will never know - until you get your poor results back!

For y = mx + n

Mark the two points (0, n) and (-n/m, 0) on a graph and join them with a straight line.

For ax + by + c = 0

Mark the points (0, -c/b), (-c/a, 0) on a graph and join the with a straight line.

The procedure, that is taught at school, is to