Question

What is an equation of the line that passes through the points (0, 3) and (5, -3)?

Answer 1

Answer (assuming it can be in slope-intercept form):

$y = -\frac{6}{5} x+3$  

Step-by-step explanation:

1) First, use the slope formula $m =\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}$ to find the slope of the line. Substitute the x and y values of the given points into the formula and solve:

$m =\frac{(-3)-(3)}{(5)-(0)} \\m = \frac{-3-3}{5-0}\\m = \frac{-6}{5}$

So, the slope is $-\frac{6}{5}$.  

2) Now, use the slope-intercept formula $y = mx + b$ to write the equation of the line in slope-intercept form. All you need to do is substitute real values for the $m$ and $b$ in the formula.

Since $m$ represents the slope, substitute $-\frac{6}{5}$ for it. Since $b$ represents the y-intercept, substitute 3 for it. (Remember, the y-intercept is the point at which the line hits the y-axis. All points on the y-axis have an x-value of 0. Notice how the given point (0,3) has an x-value, too, so it must be the line's y-intercept.) This gives the following equation and answer:

$y = -\frac{6}{5} x+3$