Do you know "Y" you were intercepted Part Deux

OK - so maybe the last post was a bit easy.

Perhaps there might be a harder question on the GED test?

A quick review... Which line has the equation

 

 y = x + 6

 

 

First of all, image you have been driving along and are suddenly "intercepted" by the police.

"Do you know "y" you were intercepted?" is probably the question you will be asked.

 

The key to this question is the "y" intercept, or the location at which the line crosses (intercepts) the "y" or vertical axis. (For some reason, nobody really cares about the poor old "x" axis. As with all "ex's", they are best left forgotten.)

 

y = x + 6 

 

The free floating number here is the 6. The only line that crosses/intercepts the "y"axis at 6 is line 5. Job done. You are finished.

 

                                 

 

OK, but what about...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like 2 lines intercepting the "y" axis at 6. (Lines 5 and 7) So how now, brown cow?

 

Well, the next clue is the slope of the line. The free floating number corresponds with the intercept while the value associated with the "X" determines the slope. In this case, the slope is positive 1.

 

How can that be? (In algebra, values of positive 1 are dropped, being "understood" to be positive 1.) The formula for this line could have been written as y = 1x + 6

 

So we now need to find which line has a slope of positive 1.

 

By convention, lines that "rise" from the lower left to the upper right are considered to have a positive slope, Lines that "fall" from the upper left to the lower right have negative slopes. That rules out line 7.

 

 

Work SMART, not HARD!