# How do you graph x/2 - y = 7?

Nov 5, 2017

Refer to the explanation.

#### Explanation:

Solve for $y$ to change the equation to slope-intercept form:

$y = m x + b$,

where:

$m$ is the slope and $b$ is the y-intercept, which is the value for $y$ when $x = 0$.

Given:

$\frac{x}{2} - y = 7$

Subtract $\frac{x}{2}$ from both sides.

$- y = - \frac{x}{2} + 7$

Multiply both sides by $- 1$. This will reverse the signs.

$y = \frac{x}{2} - 7$

$y = \frac{1}{2} x - 7$

$m = \frac{1}{2}$

$b = - 7$

Determine two points, such as the y-intercept and x-intercept (value of $x$ when $y = 0$).

Y-intercept: $\left(0 , - 7\right)$

X-intercept: $\left(14 , 0\right)$ See below for the calculations.

$0 = \frac{1}{2} x - 7$

Add $7$ to both sides.

$7 = \frac{1}{2} x$

Divide both sides by $\frac{1}{2}$. When dividing by a fraction, invert the fraction and multiply.

$\frac{7}{\frac{1}{2}} = x$

$7 \times \frac{2}{1} = x$

$14 = x$

Plot the x- and y-intercepts. Draw a straight line through the points.

graph{y=1/2x-7 [-9.34, 10.66, -8.84, 1.16]}