BigGlenntheHeavy
Senior Member
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- Mar 8, 2009
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Show that the equation for a line with nonzero x and y intercepts can be written as x/(a-?7) + y/ b =1, where a is the x-intercept and b is the y-intercept
We can write y = mx + b as one form of a linear equation. Since we are given that y is not equal to zero when x = 0, it follows by inspection that b is not equal to zero. So we can re-write the standard form as
y - mx = b and then divide both sides of the equation by b since b is not equal to zero.
This gives us
y/b - mx/b = 1
So if we assign a-?7 = -b/m, then the equation above becomes:
x/(a-?7) + y/b = 1 which is what the problem statement required. (Note this assumes m is not equal to zero.)
This is crap.
We can write y = mx + b as one form of a linear equation. Since we are given that y is not equal to zero when x = 0, it follows by inspection that b is not equal to zero. So we can re-write the standard form as
y - mx = b and then divide both sides of the equation by b since b is not equal to zero.
This gives us
y/b - mx/b = 1
So if we assign a-?7 = -b/m, then the equation above becomes:
x/(a-?7) + y/b = 1 which is what the problem statement required. (Note this assumes m is not equal to zero.)
This is crap.