All horizontal lines are of the form y = k, for some constant k. We want the horizontal line to pass through (8,5), meaning every point on this horizontal line must have y coordinate 5. Therefore, y = 5 is the equation of the horizontal line. Two such points on this line are (1, 5) and (8, 5). All that matters is the y coordinate is 5. The x coordinate can be anything you want. The slope of any horizontal line is 0.

Flipping things around, all vertical lines will have the x coordinate of each point be the same value. Draw a vertical line through (8,5) and note how each point has x coordinate of 8. Two such points are (8,1) and (8,5). Therefore, the equation of the vertical line is x = 8. The y coordinate can be any value you want. The slope of any vertical line is undefined. Unlike the horizontal line, we cannot write this equation in slope intercept form (namely because the slope isn't defined).

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3 years ago