Edwin's explanation:
Explain why the line x = 4 is a
vertical line.
Let's draw a vertical line through 4 on the x axis, like this:
Now let's plot a couple of points on that line, like this:
They are the points (4,2) and (4,5). Let's label them:
Now let's get acouple more, down below the x-axis:
Those two are (4,-3) and (4,-7). Let's label them:
Now look at all those points:
(4,2), (4,5), (4,-3), (4,-7)
What do you see that they have in common? You will
notice that the x-coordinate of every one of them is 4.
Theoretically we could get thousands more points on that
same line. We could plot (4,9), (4,-8), (4,0), (4,-1),
etc., etc. If we drew the graph big enough we could even
find the points (4,100), (4,-10000), (4,746), etc.,
etc.
So the best way to say
"The line which has all the points which have 4 as their
x-coordinate", is to say
"the x-coordinate always equals 4 on this line".
or "x always equals 4",
or just plain
x = 4.
------------------
Another way to look at it is to think of it this way:
x = 4
is the same as
x + 0y = 4
And if we make a table of points, just
picking arbitrary values for y, say,
2, 5, -3, and -7, (I picked the same
arbitrary ones I picked above)
x | y
------
| 2
| 5
|-3
|-7
and substitute those values of y into
x + 0y = 4 x + 0y = 4 x + 0y = 4 x + 0y = 4
x + 0(2) = 4 x + 0(5) = 4 x + 0(-3) = 4 x + 0(-7) = 4
x + 0 = 4 x + 0 = 4 x + 0 = 4 x + 0 = 4
x = 4 x = 4 x = 4 x = 4
So the points are
x | y
------
4 | 2
4 | 5
4 |-3
4 |-7
So if we plot those four points:
and then draw a straight line through them, we have:
Do you think you understand it now why we say that vertical
line has the equation " x = 4 "? (For that is a true statement
about every point on that line. It's x-value or x-coordinate
is always equal to 4.
Edwin