Question

Describe and correct the error in writing an equation of the line.

Answer 1

Answer:

the mistake they made was the wrong offset from point (0,0) into the y direction. the incline of the line was correct.

the correct equation is y = 1/2×x - 2, because this line contains both points (4,0) and (0,-2)

Step-by-step explanation:

we are looking for a line equation

y = a×x + b

the 2 points give us 2 equations to solve for the 2 variables a and b :

0 = a×4 + b

-2 = a×0 + b

=> b = -2

=> -b = a×4, => a = -b/4 = 2/4 = 1/2

so, the right equation for the line going through both points is

y = 1/2×x - 2

the difference to the original equation is simply the offset from the x- axis in the y direction.

the original equation would be parallel to the correct equation but hit the y-axis at (0,4) instead of (0,-2), and it would hit the x-axis at (-8,0) instead of (4,0)