document.write( "Question 51410: Please Help. My Problem is to graph by first solving for y. The equation is x + 2y = 8. I am completely lost here. \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #34370 by rchill(405) $\"\"$ $\"About$

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Always solve for y first; if there is no y, solve for x. So, we first subtract x from both sides: $\"x%2B2y-x=8-x\"$ , which simplifies to $\"2y=-x%2B8\"$ . Now divide both sides by 2: $\"2y%2F2=%28-x%2B8%29%2F2\"$ , which simplifies to $\"y=-%281%2F2%29x%2B4\"$ .

\n" ); document.write( "Because any two points define a straight line, we need to get two ordered pairs in order to plot and draw the line. Using $\"x=0\"$ produces $\"y=4\"$ , so our first ordered pair is (0,4). Now let's use $\"x=8\"$ to produce $\"y=-%281%2F2%29%2A8%2B4\"$ , which simplifies to $\"y=-4%2B4\"$ , or $\"y=0\"$ . Our second ordered pair is now (8,0). We plot those two points, and then draw a line between them.
\n" ); document.write( " $\"graph%28300%2C200%2C-3%2C10%2C-3%2C10%2C-%281%2F2%29x%2B4%29\"$ \n" ); document.write( "

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