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The Equation of a Straight Line.

  1. Jul 11, 2004 #1
    What characteristics about a straight line can you determine from the slope-intercept form of its equation? Explain how to find these characteristics from the equation.

    Okay, so I know the equation, but what characteristics am I supposed to be able to determine from a straight line. My teacher says I should know this for a test tomorrow. I wrote it down, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to figure out here.
  2. jcsd
  3. Jul 12, 2004 #2
    you can tell the slope, and the Y intercept
  4. Jul 12, 2004 #3
    Slope intercept form:


    m is the slope. c is the y intercept.
  5. Jul 12, 2004 #4


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    Also of the form

    y = mx + c

    Its x intercept is -c/m.
  6. Jul 12, 2004 #5
    I think this question is a little too open-ended. The answer your teacher is probably looking for is "the slope and the X and Y intercepts", but if you have the equation of a straight line, you could find out anything at all about it. You could find out the area under the line in any given quadrant, or combination of quadrants, or between the line and a curve, or you could find a line perpendicular to the given line at any point, or another line that forms any desired angle with the given line at any point, or the distance between any point on the line and any other point, or the tangent to the line (always a great question for straight lines), and so on. There isn't really any limit to the number of things you could figure out about the line.
  7. Aug 17, 2004 #6
    the paradox of the line

    a line can always be split in half and, in turn, the remaining halves can also be halfved, this goes on to infinity. If this is the case any line is made from infinite parts and all lines, in turn, must be infinitely long.

    put that in your equation pot and boil it.
  8. Aug 17, 2004 #7

    matt grime

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    But the halved line does not split into two lines, does it?
  9. Aug 17, 2004 #8


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    When replying to a thread, it would be polite to say something relevant to the thread. If you just like to see words that you typed on the internet, start your own thread.

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