The Lesson

A linear equation is an equation that represents a line. A linear equation can be written in the form: a x plus b y plus c equals 0 On a graph, a linear equation looks like a line: line on a graph

A Real Example of a Linear Equation in General Form

An example of a linear equation in general form is given below: 4 x plus 2 y plus 8 equals 0 In this example, a = 4, b = 2 and c = 8. We can not directly tell anything about this line from this equation. We can use algebra to convert this equation from general form to slope-intercept form, and then find the slope and y-intercept:

4x + 2y + 8 = 0

2y = −4x − 8

y = −2x − 4

This line has a slope of −2 and a y-intercept of −4.

converting a linear equation in general form to slope-intercept form
finding the slope from a linear equation in general form
finding the y-intercept from a linear equation in general form

Other Forms of Linear Equations

There are other forms of linear equation.