SOLUTION: Graph the following equation: y= -1/4x thanks for any help

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Question 107883: Graph the following equation: y= -1/4x

thanks for any help
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Solved by pluggable solver: Graphing Linear Equations
In order to graph y=%28-1%2F4%29%2Ax%2B0 we only need to plug in two points to draw the line

So lets plug in some points

Plug in x=-8

y=%28-1%2F4%29%2A%28-8%29%2B0

y=8%2F4%2B0 Multiply

y=8%2F4 Add

y=2 Reduce

So here's one point (-8,2)




Now lets find another point

Plug in x=-4

y=%28-1%2F4%29%2A%28-4%29%2B0

y=4%2F4%2B0 Multiply

y=4%2F4 Add

y=1 Reduce

So here's another point (-4,1). Add this to our graph





Now draw a line through these points

So this is the graph of y=%28-1%2F4%29%2Ax%2B0 through the points (-8,2) and (-4,1)


So from the graph we can see that the slope is -1%2F4 (which tells us that in order to go from point to point we have to start at one point and go down -1 units and to the right 4 units to get to the next point), the y-intercept is (0,0)and the x-intercept is (0,0)


We could graph this equation another way. Since b=0 this tells us that the y-intercept (the point where the graph intersects with the y-axis) is (0,0).


So we have one point (0,0)





Now since the slope is -1%2F4, this means that in order to go from point to point we can use the slope to do so. So starting at (0,0), we can go down 1 units



and to the right 4 units to get to our next point


Now draw a line through those points to graph y=%28-1%2F4%29%2Ax%2B0


So this is the graph of y=%28-1%2F4%29%2Ax%2B0 through the points (0,0) and (4,-1)