University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations

Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

FIRST DEGREE OR LINEAR FUNCTIONS

Equation of a line:

There are different ways to write the equation of a line.

1. The standard Form:

2. The slope-intercept form:

We will use the “Slope-Intercept Form”, which is the functional notation.

Where m is the slope of the line, and b is the y-intercept.

EX:

The following table shows values of y = 3x – 1

(m = 3, b = –1) for some values of x:

Its graph is shown in the following figure:

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University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations
Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

On the graph, the corresponding point (0, –1) is the point where the graph
crosses the y-axis, and we say that b = –1 is the y-intercept of the graph.

What about m? Looking once again at the table, notice that y increases by
m = 3 units for every increase of 1 unit in x.

So the interpretation of the slope m is:

“For every increase of 1 in x, we get an increase of 3 in y.”

Numerically, y increases by m units for every 1-unit increase of x.

Likewise, for every increase of 2 in x we get an increase of 3 ´ 2 = 6 in y.
In general, if x increases by some amount, y will increase by three times
that amount.

Because the value of y increases by exactly 3 units for every increase of 1

unit in x, the graph is a straight line rising by 3 units for every 1 unit we go
to the right.

We say that we have a rise of 3 units for each run of 1 unit.

Thus, we have a rise of 6 for a run of 2, a rise of 9 for a run of 3, and so on.
So, m = 3 is a measure of the steepness of the line; we call m the slope of
the line.

We can calculate the slope of a line using the above formula by taking any
two points on the line:
Using (-1,-4) & (2, 5) we get

Using (1, 2) & (4, 11) we get

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University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations
Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

Notes:

 The slope of a line is also known as “the rate of change in the value
of y with respect to a change in x”,

 The slope of a straight line is always constant.

 The slope may be +, -, zero or .

 The sign of the slope indicates whether the function is increasing or

decreasing.

If m is +: We have an increasing function (a direct relation between

x and y) which means that “as x increases y increases”.

If m is –: We have a decreasing function (an indirect relation

between x and y) which indicates that “as x increases y decreases”.

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University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations
Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

-slope
+slope

Slope=0 Slope=∞

 The value of the slope indicates the rate of change in the value of y
with respect to the change in x, i.e, the change in y associated with
a 1 unit increase in x.

 If the equation of the straight line is given in the slope-intercept form,

there is no need to calculate the slope of the line since the slope is
always the coefficient of x.

 The y-intercept b is the point where the line cuts the y-axis. It is
found by putting x=0 in the equation.

 The x-intercept is the point where the line cuts the x-axis. It is found
by putting y=0 in the equation.

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University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations
Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

Quick Example

Given the following linear function:

y=f (x) = -3x + 9

1) Find the slope of the line and interpret its meaning.

2) Determine the y-intercept.
3) Find the x-intercept.
4) Sketch the graph of the line

Solution:

1) Slope = -3
Interpretation: For every increase in x by 1 unit, y decreases by 3
units

2) Y-intercept : 9 or (0, 9)

3) X-intercept: 0 = -3x +9
3x = 9
X = 3 or (3,0)
4) Sketch:

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University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations
Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

Which of the following two tables gives the values of a linear

function? What is the formula for that function?

Solution:

If you graph the points in the tables defining f and g above, it becomes
easy to see that g is linear and f is not; the points of g lie on a straight line,
whereas the points of f do not lie on a straight line

Thus, g is linear with slope m = -2 . From the table, g(0) = 3, hence b = 3.

Thus,

g(x) = -2x +3

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University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations
Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

1. Knowing the slope and the Y- intercept:

This is straight forward.
Ex:

Find the equation of the line which has a slope of 3 and a y-intercept
of -1
Slope-intercept form:
Standard form:

2. Knowing the slope and one point:

Ex:

Find the equation of the line passing through the point (2, 3) with a
slope of 4
Point-Slope form:

Slope-intercept form:

Or

Standard form:

3. Given two data points on the line:

EX:

Find the equation of the line which passes through the points (1, 3), and
(5, 11).

The equation has the form:

 Find the slope:
 Find the y-intercept by substituting any of the given points in the
equation.

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University of Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA) Straight lines & linear Equations
Prof. Adel Hamdy ECO-113 Lecture Notes 3.1

Slope-intercept form:
Standard form:

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