Labs / Mathematics
Linear Equations
Every straight line is a rule: pick an x, multiply by the slope, add the intercept, and you land on the line. Drag the round handle to slide the line up and down, drag the square handle to tilt it, then dial in a target y to solve for x — or switch on a second line and watch where the two cross.
y = 1x + 2m 1x-int -2y-int 2meet off
What to try
- What happens to the whole line when the slope m is 0? Where is its x-intercept then?
- Make the slope negative. Which way does the line tip, and does the x-intercept move left or right?
- Set a target y and read off the solution x. How does that x shift as you steepen the slope?
- Turn on the second line. Can you make the two lines never meet — and what do their slopes share when they don't?
- Can you find a slope and intercept that send the line exactly through the point (3, 3)?