Point-Slope Form
Site: | Saylor Academy |
Course: | GKT101: General Knowledge for Teachers – Math |
Book: | Point-Slope Form |
Printed by: | Guest user |
Date: | Wednesday, May 14, 2025, 10:51 AM |
Description
Point-slope form might be less familiar and more formal-looking. It is a general form of a linear equation with a known slope and one of the points. Watch this lecture series and complete the interactive exercises.
Intro to point-slope form
Source: Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/x2f8bb11595b61c86:forms-of-linear-equations#x2f8bb11595b61c86:point-slope-form
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
Point-slope & slope-intercept equations
Point-slope form - Questions
1. Complete the point-slope equation of the line through \((1,3)\) and \((5,1)\).
Use exact numbers.
\(y-3= \text { ______ }\)
2. Complete the point-slope equation of the line through \((-8, -8)\) and \(( -7,9)\).
Use exact numbers.
\(y-9= \text { ______ }\)
3. Complete the point-slope equation of the line through \((-1, -10)\) and \(( 5, 2)\).
Use exact numbers.
\(y-2= \text { ______ }\)
4. Complete the point-slope equation of the line through \((1, 0)\) and \(( 6, -3)\).
Use exact numbers.
\(y-(-3)= \text { ______ }\)
Answers
1. \(y-3=-\frac{1}{2}(x-1)\)
The general point-slope form \(y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)\), where \(m\) is the slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) is a point on the line.
Why?
The point-slope form comes directly from the definition of slope. We'll use \(m\) to represent slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) as one point on the graph of the equation.
\(\frac{\text { change in } y}{\text { change in } x}=m\)
\(\begin{aligned}
&\frac{y-y_{1}}{x-x_{1}}=m \\
&y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)
\end{aligned}\)
Let's find the slope between \((1, 3)\) and \((5, 1)\):
\(\begin{aligned}
\text { Slope } &=\frac{1-3}{5-1} \\
&=\frac{-2}{4} \\
&=-\frac{1}{2}
\end{aligned}\)
The incomplete equation starts with \(y-3\), so we need to use the point \((1,3)\):
\(y-3=-\frac{1}{2}(x-1)\)
2. \(y-9=17(x-(-7))\)
The general point-slope form is \(y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)\), where \(m\) is the slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) is a point on the line.
Why?
The point-slope form comes directly from the definition of slope. We'll use \(m\) to represent slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) as one point on the graph of the equation.
\(\frac{\text { change in } y}{\text { change in } x}=m\)
\(\begin{aligned}
&\frac{y-y_{1}}{x-x_{1}}=m \\
&y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)
\end{aligned}\)
Let's find the slope between \((-7,9)\) and \((-8, -8)\):
\(\begin{aligned}
\text { Slope } &=\frac{9-(-8)}{-7-(-8)} \\
&=\frac{17}{1} \\
&=17
\end{aligned}\)
The incomplete equation starts with \(y-9\), so we need to use the point \((-7, 9)\):
\(y-9=17(x-(-7))\)
3. \(y-2=2(x-5)\)
The general point-slope form is \(y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)\), where \(m\) is the slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) is a point on the line.
Why?
The point-slope form comes directly from the definition of slope. We'll use \(m\) to represent slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) as one point on the graph of the equation.
\(\frac{\text { change in } y}{\text { change in } x}=m\)
\(\begin{aligned}
&\frac{y-y_{1}}{x-x_{1}}=m \\
&y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)
\end{aligned}\)
Let's find the slope between \((5,2)\) and \(( -1,-10)\):
\(\begin{aligned}
\text { Slope } &=\frac{2-(-10)}{5-(-1)} \\
&=\frac{12}{6} \\
&=2
\end{aligned}\)
The incomplete equation starts with \(y-2\), so we need to use the point \((5,2)\):
\(y-2=2(x-5)\)
4. \(y-(-3)=-\frac{3}{5}(x-6)\)
The general point-slope form is \(y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)\), where \(m\) is the slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) is a point on the line.
Why?
The point-slope form comes directly from the definition of slope. We'll use \(m\) to represent slope and \(\left(x_{1}, y_{1}\right)\) as one point on the graph of the equation.
\(\frac{\text { change in } y}{\text { change in } x}=m\)
\(\begin{aligned}
&\frac{y-y_{1}}{x-x_{1}}=m \\
&y-y_{1}=m\left(x-x_{1}\right)
\end{aligned}\)
Let's find the slope between \((6, -3)\) and \(( 1, 0)\):
\(\begin{aligned}
\text { Slope } &=\frac{-3-0}{6-1} \\
&=\frac{-3}{5} \\
&=-\frac{3}{5}
\end{aligned}\)
The incomplete equation starts with \(y -(-3)\), so we need to use the point \((6,-3)\):
\(y-(-3)=-\frac{3}{5}(x-6)\)