Hello, Linda,
A straihgt line has the general formula of y = mx + b, where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept (the point at which the line crosses the y axis, at x = 0). Remember y = mx + b. It comes up often.
You are given the slope, 1. So n=1 in the general equation. That gets us to y = 1*x + b
[Slope is the rate of change of the line. A slope of 1 means that when x goes up by 1, y will also increase by 1. The simplest straight line would be y = x. The slope is 1 (1*x) and the y intercept is zero (there is no b, so b=0). When x = 3, y = 3. Y increases directly with x.
A slope of 2 would mean that when x is increased by 1, y will increase by 2. A slope of -1 means that as x increases, y decreases. (The line slopes down as x is increasing. You are given the y intercept (b) for the line, 5. So b = 5, and thus we have the full equation:
y = 1*x + 5, or y = x + 5
I hope this helps,
Bob
