9 Extended: General Form Equation of a Line

If we are given a point on a line, and the slope of that line, we already know how to find the equation of that line in slope-intercept form. How can we find the general form equation of that same line?

In one sense it’s very easy, we can just move the x-term to the same side as the y-term. For example, the line with slope-intercept form \[\begin{align}y&=3x+1 \quad\textrm{can also be written as}\\y-3x&=1\end{align}\]

which is in general form.

There is, however, another easy way to find either the general form equation of a line that you may also want to use. If you want to learn that method, have a look at page 174 in our textbook. You can use any method you like!

Complete the following questions before our next class.

Exercise 9E.1 questions 1–3, 4ef, 5, and 7 (if you want a challenge, try 11 as well!).

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