Question

What is the slope and y-intercept of the line `4x-5y=20`?

Answer 1

The slope is `m=4/5` and the y-intercept is `b=-4`.

Explanation:

The slope and y-intercepts are most easily found when you put the equation in the form `y=mx+b`, where `m` is the slope an `b` is the y-intercept.

To do this, rearrange the equation

`4x-5y=20`
`4x=20+5y`
`4x-20=5y`
`1/5(4x-20)=y`
`y=4/5x-4`

Now we can simply read off from our new equation the values `m=4/5` and `b=-4`.

(`b` is sometimes called `c`, but I prefer calling it `b` because it sounds nicer.)