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Slope illustrated for y = (3/2)x − 1.Click on to enlarge Slope of a line in coordinates system, from f(x) = −12x + 2 to f(x) = 12x + 2. The slope of a line in the plane containing the x and y axes is generally represented by the letter m, [5] and is defined as the change in the y coordinate divided by the corresponding change in the x coordinate, between two distinct points on the line.
A linear function is a polynomial function in which the variable x has degree at most one: [2] . Such a function is called linear because its graph, the set of all points in the Cartesian plane, is a line. The coefficient a is called the slope of the function and of the line (see below). If the slope is , this is a constant function defining a ...
The phrase "linear equation" takes its origin in this correspondence between lines and equations: a linear equation in two variables is an equation whose solutions form a line. If b ≠ 0, the line is the graph of the function of x that has been defined in the preceding section. If b = 0, the line is a vertical line (that is a line parallel to ...
x, y, and z are all functions of the independent variable t which ranges over the real numbers. (x 0, y 0, z 0) is any point on the line. a, b, and c are related to the slope of the line, such that the direction vector (a, b, c) is parallel to the line.
where a and b are constants, often real numbers. The graph of such a function of one variable is a nonvertical line. a is frequently referred to as the slope of the line, and b as the intercept. If a > 0 then the gradient is positive and the graph slopes upwards. If a < 0 then the gradient is negative and the graph slopes downwards.
Linear interpolation. Method of curve fitting to construct new data points within the range of known data points. Given the two red points, the blue line is the linear interpolant between the points, and the value y at x may be found by linear interpolation. In mathematics, linear interpolation is a method of curve fitting using linear ...
Quadratic formula. The roots of the quadratic function y = 1 2 x2 − 3x + 5 2 are the places where the graph intersects the x -axis, the values x = 1 and x = 5. They can be found via the quadratic formula. In elementary algebra, the quadratic formula is a closed-form expression describing the solutions of a quadratic equation.
Y-intercept. Graph with the -axis as the horizontal axis and the -axis as the vertical axis. The -intercept of is indicated by the red dot at . In analytic geometry, using the common convention that the horizontal axis represents a variable and the vertical axis represents a variable , a -intercept or vertical intercept is a point where the ...