write an equation for the line that passes through the points (-5,1)

Answer 1

All lines are of the form:

y = mx +b

where m = slope, and b = y-intercept

So, we can plug in our points into this equation:

1 = m(-5) + b. If we try and solve for m (our slope), we get:

(1 - b)/-5 = m

In the above equation we have 2 unknowns, which means that there are many solutions. This makes sense, since there are many lines that can pass through (-5, 1). So lets plug in some values for b.

for b = 1:

(1-1)/-5 = 0/5 = 0 = m. So our equation would be y=1

for b = -1:

(1 - (-1))/-5 = 2/-5 = -0.4 = m. So our equation would be y=-0.4x -1

To answer your question, you can pick any value of b and plug it into this equation:

m = (1 - b)/5

And then use that m in this equation: y=mx+b to find your answer. Some known equations are:

y=1 and y = -0.4x -1