# How do you graph x-4y=12 using intercepts?

Given straight line: $x - 4 y = 12$ can be re-written in intercept form as follows

$\frac{x}{12} - \frac{4 y}{12} = 1$

$\frac{x}{12} + \frac{y}{- 3} = 1$

The above straight line has x-intercept $12$ & y-intercept $- 3$

Take the x-intercept $12$ units on x-axis & y-intercept $3$ units on -ve y-axis & join both the end-points by a straight line to get the graph/plot

Jun 28, 2018

$\text{see explanation}$

#### Explanation:

$\text{to find the intercepts, that is where the graph crosses}$
$\text{the x and y axes}$

• " let x = 0, in the equation for y-intercept"

$\text{let y = 0, in the equation for x-intercept}$

$x = 0 \Rightarrow - 4 y = 12 \Rightarrow y = - 3 \leftarrow \textcolor{red}{\text{y-intercept}}$

$y = 0 \Rightarrow x = 12 \leftarrow \textcolor{red}{\text{x-intercept}}$

$\text{plot the points "(0,-3)" and } \left(12 , 0\right)$

$\text{Draw a straight line through them for graph}$
graph{(y-1/4x+3)((x-0)^2+(y+3)^2-0.04)((x-12)^2+(y-0)^2-0.04)=0 [-20, 20, -10, 10]}