Graphing Linear Equations Functions

Plotting linear functions is very easy. You do not need to go to the advanced section of this lesson. A linear function is always represented by a straight line, which you always should plot with a ruler.

All you need to plot a linear function is to determine its value at two points. Even though, mathematically speaking, these two points can be arbotrarily close, if you choose them to be too close, your line may deviate from what the graph really is. So try to choose your points so that they would be relatively far on the graph.

Let's assume that the function you want to plot is

y=ax+b, where a and b are two numbers

Your first task is to determine where it intersects the x and y axis. The intersection with the y axis is the point with the x coordinate 0 and the y coordinate being a*0 + b, that is, b. So the point is (0, b).
The intersection with the x axis is the point (x, 0) where the value of ax + b = 0. To find that x, you just need to set ax+b=0, and you get x = -b/a. A caveat: if a is zero, you should not try to find the intersection with the x axis this way, because you cannot divide b by zero. For equations y = 0x + b, you just draw a straight horizontal line through point (0, b).	Graph of y = 0*x + 2, a = 0 so it is a horizontal line. No intersection with the x axis.	Graph of y =
Once you have these two points marked, take a ruler and draw the line through them. You are done.	Graph of y =