1.

2 Graphs of Equations in Two Variables; Circles

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Objectives
• Graphing Equations by Plotting Points
• Intercepts
• Circles
• Symmetry

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Graphs of Equations in Two Variables; Circles (1 of 2)
An equation in two variables, such as expresses a relationship
between two quantities.
A point (x, y) satisfies the equation if it makes the equation true when the
values for x and y are substituted into the equation.
For example, the point (3, 10) satisfies the equation
but the point (1, 3) does not, because

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Graphs of Equations in Two Variables; Circles (2 of 2)
The Graph of an Equation
The graph of an equation in x and y is the set of all points (x, y) in the
coordinate plane that satisfy the equation.

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Graphing Equations by Plotting Points

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Graphing Equations by Plotting Points
The graph of an equation is a curve, so to graph an equation, we plot as many
points as we can, then connect them by a smooth curve.

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Example 1 – Sketching a Graph by Plotting Points
Sketch the graph of the equation 2x − y = 3.
Solution:
We first solve the given equation for y to get
y = 2x − 3
This helps us calculate the y-coordinates in the following table.
x y = 2x − 3 (x, y)
−1 −5 (−1, −5)
0 −3 (0, −3)
1 −1 (1, −1)
2 1 (2, 1)
3 3 (3, 3)
4 5 (4, 5)
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Example 1 – Solution (1 of 2)
Of course, there are infinitely many points on the graph, and it is impossible to
plot all of them.
But the more points we plot, the better we can imagine what the graph
represented by the equation looks like.

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Example 1 – Solution (2 of 2)
We plot the points we found in Figure 1; they appear to lie on a line. So we
complete the graph by joining the points by a line.

Figure 1
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 Intercepts

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Intercepts (1 of 2)
The x-coordinates of the points where a graph intersects the x-axis are called
the x-intercepts of the graph and are obtained by setting y = 0 in the equation
of the graph.
The y-coordinates of the points where a graph intersects the y-axis are called
the y-intercepts of the graph and are obtained by setting x = 0 in the equation
of the graph.

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 Intercepts (2 of 2)
Definition of Intercepts

Intercepts How to find them Where they are on the graph

A curve is graphed on an x y
x-intercepts: Set y = 0 and solve for x coordinate plane. The curve enters the bottom left of the viewing window in the
third quadrant. It goes up to the right, intersects the negative x axis, goes
The x-coordinates of points where up to the right in the second quadrant. It intersects the y axis and reaches a
high point and goes down to the right in the first quadrant. It intersects the
the graph of an equation x axis and goes down to the right in the fourth quadrant. It reaches a low
point and goes up to the right again, intersects the x axis once more, and goes
up to the right in the first quadrant and exits the top right of the viewing
intersects the x-axis window.

A curve is graphed on an x y coordinate plane. The curve enters the top right of the viewing
y-intercepts: Set x = 0 and solve for y window in the first quadrant. It goes down to the left, intersect the y axis,
and goes into the second quadrant. The curve intersects the negative x axis and
The y-coordinates of points where goes down to the right into the third quadrant. It intersects the negative y
axis, goes down to the right into the fourth quadrant, and exits the bottom
the graph of an equation right of the viewing window.

intersects the y-axis

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Example 5 – Finding Intercepts
Find the x- and y-intercepts of the graph of the equation
Solution:
To find the x-intercepts, we set y = 0 and solve for x. Thus

Set y = 0

Add 2 to each side

Take the square root

The x-intercepts are

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Example 5 – Solution (1 of 2)
To find the y-intercepts, we set x = 0 and solve for y. Thus

Set x = 0

The y-intercept is −2.

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Example 5 – Solution (2 of 2)
The graph of this equation is sketched in Figure 5 with the x- and y-intercepts
labeled.

Figure 5
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Stewart/Redlin/Watson, Algebra and Trigonometry, 4th Edition. © 2016 Cengage. All Rights Reserved.
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 Circles

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Circles
Equation of a Circle
An equation of the circle with center (h, k) and radius r is

This is called the standard form for the equation of the circle. If the center of
the circle is the origin (0, 0), then the equation is

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Stewart/Redlin/Watson, Algebra and Trigonometry, 4th Edition. © 2016 Cengage. All Rights Reserved.
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Example 9 – Finding an Equation of a Circle
(a) Find an equation of the circle with radius 3 and center (2, −5).
(b) Find an equation of the circle that has the points P(1, 8) and Q(5, −6) as the
endpoints of a diameter.
Solution:
(a) Using the equation of a circle with r = 3, h = 2, and k = −5, we obtain

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Example 9 – Solution (1 of 3)
The graph is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11
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Example 9 – Solution (2 of 3)
(b) We first observe that the center is the midpoint of the diameter PQ, so by
the Midpoint Formula the center is

The radius r is the distance from P to the center, so by the Distance Formula

Therefore the equation of the circle is

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Example 9 – Solution (3 of 3)
The graph is shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12
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Stewart/Redlin/Watson, Algebra and Trigonometry, 4th Edition. © 2016 Cengage. All Rights Reserved.
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Stewart/Redlin/Watson, Algebra and Trigonometry, 4th Edition. © 2016 Cengage. All Rights Reserved.
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 Symmetry

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Symmetry (1 of 3)
Figure 13 shows the graph of Notice that the part of the graph to the left
of the y-axis is the mirror image of the part to the right of the y-axis.
The reason is that if the point (x, y) is on the graph, then so is (−x, y), and these
points are reflections of each other about the y-axis.

Figure 13
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Symmetry (2 of 3)
In this situation we say that the graph is symmetric with respect to the y-
axis.
Similarly, we say that a graph is symmetric with respect to the x-axis if
whenever the point (x, y) is on the graph, then so is (x, −y).
A graph is symmetric with respect to the origin if whenever (x, y) is on the
graph, so is (−x, −y). (We often say symmetric “about” instead of “with respect
to.”)

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Symmetry (3 of 3)
Types of Symmetry
Symmetry Test Graph Property of Graph

Replace y by −y. The resulting

A curve is graphed on an x y coordinate
With respect to the x-axis plane. The curve enters the top left of the viewing window, goes down to
the left and goes up to the left, intersects the y axis. It goes down the right
Graph is unchanged when
equation is equivalent to the original forming a quarter circle with the origin as the center. The rest of the curve
is symmetrical with respect to the x axis. Two points (x, y) and (x,
reflected about the x-axis. See
one. negative
y) are marked on the curve, symmetrical about the x axis. Figures 6, 9, 14, and 15.

Replace x by −x. The resulting

A curve is graphed on an x y coordinate
With respect to the y-axis plane. The curve enters the bottom left of the viewing window in the third
quadrant, goes up to the right into the second quadrant. It reaches a high
Graph is unchanged when
equation is equivalent to the original point while it intersects the y axis. The curve goes down to the right
through the first quadrant and exits the bottom right of the viewing
reflected about the y-axis. See
one. window in the
fourth quadrant. The curve has y axis symmetry. Two points (x, y) and (x, Figures 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 13, and
negative y) are marked on the curve, symmetrical about the y axis.
15.

Replace x by −x and y by −y. The

A curve is graphed on an x y coordinate
With respect to the origin plane. The curve enters the left side of the viewing window in the third
quadrant, goes down to the right, reaches a low point and goes up to the
Graph is unchanged when
resulting equation is equivalent to right through the origin. It goes up into the first quadrant, reaches a high
point and goes down to the right in the first quadrant. The curve is
rotated 180° about the origin.
the original one. symmetrical with
respect to the origin. Two points (negative x, negative y) and (x, negative See Figures 6, 9, and 15.
y) are marked on the curve, symmetrical about the origin.

Stewart/Redlin/Watson, Algebra and Trigonometry, 4th Edition. © 2016 Cengage. All Rights Reserved.
May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Example 11 – Using Symmetry to Sketch a Graph
Test the equation x = y 2 for symmetry and sketch the graph.
Solution:
If y is replaced by −y in the equation x = y 2 , we get
x = ( −y )
2
Replace y by −y

x = y2 Simplify

and so the equation is equivalent to the original one. Therefore the graph is
symmetric about the x-axis.

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Example 11 – Solution
But changing x to −x gives the equation − x = y 2 , which is not equivalent to the
original equation, so the graph is not symmetric about the y-axis.
We use the symmetry about the x-axis to sketch the graph by first plotting
points just for y > 0 and then reflecting the graph about the x-axis, as shown in
Figure 14.

y x= = y2
x y^2 (x, y)
0 0 (0, 0)
1 1 (1, 1)
2 4 (4, 2)
3 9 (9, 3)

Figure 14
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