How do you write the equation of a line given the line has a slope of –1 and contains the point #(4/5,0)#?

1 Answer
Gió
Dec 17, 2014

This is a good question!
You have 2 clues:
the first one is the slope!
The slope tells you how y changes when x changes or:
#slope=(Delta y)/(Delta x)#
where #Delta y=y_2-y_1# and #Delta x=x_2-x_1#

The second clue are the values of #x_2,y_2# and #x_1,y_1# ! Only one is fixed the other can be chosen at will.
You can choose:

#(x,y)# and #(4/5,0)#

So substituting in the expression. for the slope you get:

#-1=(y-0)/(x-(4/5)#

Rearranging, the equation of the line becomes:

#y=-x+(4/5)#

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