How do you derive the equation of the line that has slope 1/4 and passes through the point (1,-1/2)?

1 Answer
Dec 28, 2016

#(y + 1/2) = 1/4(x - 1)#

or

#y = 1/4x - 3/4#

Explanation:

To derive this equation we can use the point slope formula.

The point-slope formula states: #(y - color(red)(y_1)) = color(blue)(m)(x - color(red)(x_1))#

Where #color(blue)(m)# is the slope and #color(red)(((x_1, y_1)))# is a point the line passes through.

Substituting the data from the problem gives:

#(y - color(red)(-1/2)) = color(blue)(1/4)(x - color(red)(1))#

#(y + color(red)(1/2)) = color(blue)(1/4)(x - color(red)(1))#

If we want to convert this to slope-intercept form we can solve for #y# as follows:

#y + color(red)(1/2) = color(blue)(1/4)x - (color(blue)(1/4) * color(red)(1))#

#y + color(red)(1/2) = color(blue)(1/4)x - 1/4#

#y + color(red)(1/2) - color(green)(1/2) = color(blue)(1/4)x - 1/4 - color(green)(1/2)#

#y + 0 = color(blue)(1/4)x - 1/4 - (2/2*color(green)(1/2))#

#y = color(blue)(1/4)x - 1/4 - 2/4#

#y = color(blue)(1/4)x - 3/4#