How do you write an equation in standard form for the horizontal and vertical line through (-1, -8)?

1 Answer
Jul 22, 2017

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

The standard form of a linear equation is: color(red)(A)x + color(blue)(B)y = color(green)(C)

Where, if at all possible, color(red)(A), color(blue)(B), and color(green)(C)are integers, and A is non-negative, and, A, B, and C have no common factors other than 1

Horizontal Line

A horizontal line has the same value for y for each and every value of x. Therefore, because the y value for the point in the problem is -8 the equation for this line is:

y = -8

To put this in standard format, the coefficient for x is 0 and the coefficient for y is 1 giving:

color(red)(0)x + color(blue)(1)y = color(green)(-8)

Vertical Line

A horizontal line has the same value for x for each and every value of y. Therefore, because the x value for the point in the problem is -1 the equation for this line is:

x = -1

To put this in standard format, the coefficient for y is 0 and the coefficient for x is 1 giving:

color(red)(1)x + color(blue)(0)y = color(green)(-1)