How do you write an equation of a line with Slope = -2, passing through (0, - 3)?

1 Answer
May 24, 2015

The quick answer is #y = -2x-3#

The equation of a line can be expressed as #y=mx+c#, where #m# is the slope and #c# is the intercept - that is the value of #y# where the line intercepts the #y# axis.

In your case, the intercept value #c=-3#, so if we were being particularly pernickity the slope intercept form of the equation would be:

#y = (-2)x + (-3)#

Another standard form for the equation of a line is called "point slope" form. In general it looks like this:

#y - y_0 = m(x - x_0)#

where #m# is the slope and #(x_0, y_0)# is some point the line goes through.

In your case, we could write:

#y - (-3) = (-2)(x - 0)#

or more simply:

#y + 3 = -2x#