Question

What is an equation of the line that passes through the points (3, 1)(3,1) and (-3, -7)(−3,−7)?

Answer 1

Answer:

y = (4/3)x - 3

Step-by-step explanation:

What is an equation of the line that passes through the points (3, 1) and (-3,  -7)?  (Do not repeat the coordinates of the points.)

First we need to find the slope of the line through these two points.  From (-3, -7) to (3, 1), x increases by 6 (which is the 'run') and y increases from -7 to 1 ( a 'rise' of 8).  Thus, the slope of this line is m = rise/run = 8/6, or m = 4/3.

Using the point-slope formula as our starting point, we insert the known values m = 4/3 and point (3, 1):

y - k = m(x - h) becomes y - 1 = (4/3)(x - 3).  This in itself is a satisfactory answer.  We could also write this equation in slope-intercept form, as follows:

y = 1 + (4/3)x - 4, or

y = (4/3)x - 3