P1 Chapter 5

Straight Line Graphs

5.1 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐

Mr. Siddiq

L.O.:
- Calculate the gradient of a line
- Understand the link between the equation of a line, and its gradient and intercept
Chapter Overview
There is little new theory since IGCSE, but the algebraic manipulation is harder.

1:: 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐
Find the equation of the line passing through (2,3)
and 7,5 , giving your equation in the form
𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 + 𝑐 = 0, where 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 are integers.

2:: Equations of Straight Lines 4:: Length and Area

The line 2𝑥 + 3𝑦 = 6 crosses
the 𝑥-axis and 𝑦-axis at the
points 𝐴 and 𝐵 respectively.
3:: Parallel & Perpendicular Determine:
Lines
A line is perpendicular to (a) The length 𝐴𝐵 and
3𝑥 + 8𝑦 − 11 = 0 and passes (b) The area 𝑂𝐴𝐵.
through 0, −8 . Find the
equation of the line.
 y
Let’s start simple… 4

What is the equation of

this line? 3

And more importantly,

2
why is it that?
1

x -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

-1

-2

-3

𝑥=2 -4
For any point we pick on the
line, the 𝑥 value is always 2.
Examples
This means we can substitute the values of a coordinate into our equation
whenever we know the point lies on the line.

The point 5, 𝑎 lies on the line with equation 𝑦 = 3𝑥 + 2. Determine the value of 𝑎.

Substituting in 𝑥 and 𝑦 value:

𝑎 =3 5 +2
𝑎 = 17

Find the coordinate of the point where the line 2𝑥 + 𝑦 = 5 cuts the 𝑥-axis.

On the 𝑥-axis, 𝑦 = 0. Substituting:

2𝑥 + 0 = 5
5 5
𝑥= → ,0
2 2
Test Your Understanding

Determine where the line 𝑥 + 2𝑦 = 3 crosses the:

a) 𝑦-axis: Let 𝒙 = 𝟎.
𝟑
𝟐𝒚 = 𝟑 → 𝒚= To find y-intercept, sub 𝑥 = 0
𝟐
𝟑
𝟎,
𝟐
b) 𝑥-axis: Let 𝒚 = 𝟎
𝒙+𝟎=𝟑 To find x-intercept, sub 𝑦 = 0
𝟑, 𝟎

What mistakes do you think it’s easy to make?

• Mixing up 𝒙/𝒚: Putting answer as (𝟎, 𝟑) rather than (𝟑, 𝟎).
• Setting 𝒚 = 𝟎 to find the 𝒚-intercept, or 𝒙 = 𝟎 to find the 𝒙-intercept.
Gradient Recap
The steepness of a line is known as the gradient.
It tells us what 𝑦 changes by as 𝑥 increases by 1.
So if the 𝑦 value increased by 6 as the 𝑥
value increased by 2, what is 𝑦 increasing
by for each unit increase of 𝑥?
𝑚 How would that give us a suitable formula
for the gradient 𝑚?
1

Δ𝑦
𝑚=
Δ𝑥
Δ is the (capital) Greek letter
“delta” and means “change in”.

Textbook Note:
𝒚𝟐 −𝒚𝟏
The textbook uses 𝒎 = for two points 𝑥1 , 𝑦1 and 𝑥2 , 𝑦2 . Things to watch out for:
𝒙𝟐 −𝒙𝟏
• Students often get the 𝑦1 and 𝑦2 the wrong way round (or with the 𝑥’s)
• Students often make sign errors when dealing with negatives, e.g. −3 − −4
• It can’t be done as easily mentally
Examples
Find the gradient of the line that goes through the points:

1 1, 4 (3, 10) 𝑚=3

2 5, 7 (8, 1) 𝑚 = −2
8
3 2, 2 (−1, 10) 𝑚=−
3
4 Show that the points A 3,4 , 𝐵 5,5 , 𝐶 11,8
all lie on a straight line.
𝟏 𝟑 𝟏
𝒎𝑨𝑩 = 𝒎𝑩𝑪 = =
𝟐 𝟔 𝟐 If points are
‘collinear’ they lie
Gradients the same ∴ ‘collinear’. on the same line.
Further Example

The line joining 2, −5 to 4, 𝑎 has gradient -1. Work out the

value of 𝑎.

𝑎 − −5
= −1
4−2
𝑎+5
= −1
2
𝑎 = −7
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐
One form we can put a straight line equation in is:

𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐
Gradient 𝑦-intercept

Why does it work?

• The 𝒚-intercept by definition is the 𝒚 value when 𝒙 = 𝟎.
Substituting:
𝒚 = 𝒎 × 𝟎 + 𝒄 = 𝒄 as expected.
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐
Determine the gradient and 𝑦-intercept of the line with equation
4𝑥 − 3𝑦 + 5 = 0
Make 𝑦 the subject so
3𝑦 = 4𝑥 + 5 we have the form
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐
Put 𝑦 on the side it’s
positive.
4 5
𝑦= 𝑥+ Divide each term by 3;
3 3 don’t write 𝑦 =
4𝑥+5
3
otherwise it’s not in
the form 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐
4 5
∴𝑚= , 𝑐= This is algebra, so use
3 3 improper fractions,
and not mixed
numbers or recurring
decimals.
𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 + 𝑐 = 0
At IGCSE, 𝒚 = 𝒎𝒙 + 𝒄 was the main form you would express a straight
line equation, sometimes known as the ‘slope-intercept form’.
But another common form is 𝒂𝒙 + 𝒃𝒚 + 𝒄 = 𝟎, where 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 are integers.
This is known as the ‘standard’ form.

1 2
Express 𝑦 = 𝑥 − in the form 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 + 𝑐 = 0, where 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 are integers.
3 3

3𝑦 = 𝑥 − 2 We don’t want fractions, so multiply by an

appropriate number.
𝑥 − 3𝑦 − 2 = 0
Put everything on either side of equation.
− 𝑥 + 3𝑦 + 2 = 0 would also be OK.

We’ll see on the next slide WHY we might want to

put an equation in this form over 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐…
Just for your interest…
Why might we want to put a straight line
equation in the form 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 + 𝑐 = 0?
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 + 𝑐 = 0
“Slope-Intercept Form” “Standard Form”

Usefulness
Coverage Symmetry This more ‘elegant’ form also
means it ties in with vectors
We can extend to 3D points to
get the equation of a plane:
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐 doesn’t In general, the ‘linear 𝑎 𝑥
and matrices. In FM, you will
allow you to combination’ of two 𝑏 ⋅ 𝑦 +𝑑 =0 (2)
learn about the ‘dot product’
represent vertical variables 𝑥 and 𝑦 is 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦, 𝑐 𝑧
of two vectors: Conveniently, in equation (1),
lines. Standard form i.e. “some amount of 𝑥 and
𝑎 𝑥
allows us to do this by some amount of 𝑦”. There is ⋅ 𝑦 = 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 𝑎
𝑏 the vector is perpendicular
just making 𝑏 zero. a greater elegance and 𝑏
symmetry to this form over thus since 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑦 + 𝑐 = 0, to the line. And in equation (2),
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐 because 𝑥 and 𝑦 we can represent a straight 𝑎
𝑥+4=0

appear similarly within the line using: the vector 𝑏 is perpendicular

expression. 𝑎 𝑥 𝑐
⋅ 𝑦 +𝑐 =0 (1) to the plane. Nice!
𝑏

2 𝑥
2𝑥 + 𝑦 = 4 ⋅ 𝑦 =4 2
1 1