Slope - Intercept Form - College

Find the x- and y- intercepts and the slope for the following equation:
4x – 2y = 12

Answer:
x- intercept = 3
y- intercept = - 6
slope = 2

Explanation:
To find the x- intercept we must set y = 0 and solve for x as follows:
4x – 2(0) = 12
4x = 12
x = 12/4 = 3

To find the y-intercept we must set x=0 and solve for y as follows:
4(0) – 2y = 12
-2y = 12
y = 12/-2 = -6

To find the slope we must first rewrite the original equation in slope-intercept form, which is:
y = mx + b where m is the slope and b is the y intercept.

4x – 2y = 12
-2y = -4x + 12 (subtract 4x from both sides)
y = (-4/-2x) + (12/-2) (divide both sides by –2)
y = 2x – 6

Now we can identify the slope m = 2 and the y intercept is –6 which we found earlier also.

For additional information on intercepts go to: Review of Intercepts
For additional information on the Slope-Intercept form with practice problems go to:
Slope-Intercept Form.

©Copyright 2007.Najwa S. Hirn. All rights reserved.