If the equations #x + 5y = 7 and 2x + 6y = 10 # are represented on a graph, what is the relationship between these lines?

1 Answer
Mar 29, 2018

They are two intersecting lines.

Explanation:

Two lines are either parallel or incident (or at least this is what can be graphically interesting about a couple of lines). They are parallel if and only if they have the same slope #m#, which is computed as the opposite ratio between the #x# and #y# coefficient in the implicit form #ax+by+c=0#, i.e. #-a/b#.

  • First line: #x+5y-7=0#, thus the slope is #-1/5#
  • Second line: #2x+6y=10#, thus the slope is #-1/3#

You can see that the lines do intersect: WolframAlpha Link