Graphing & Slopes

Straight Line Equation

The equation of a straight line is usually written this way:
y = mx + b

What does it stand for?

Slope (or Gradient)

y = how far up
x = how far along
m = Slope or Gradient (how steep the line is)
b = the Y Intercept (where the line crosses the Y axis)

How do you find "m" and "b"?

b is easy: just see where the line crosses the Y axis.

m (the Slope) needs some calculation:

Change in Y
m =
Change in X

Y Intercept

Knowing this we can work out the equation of a straight line:

Example 1

2
m =

= 2
1

b = 1 (where the line crosses the Y-Axis)

Therefore y = 2x + 1
With that equation you can now ...
... choose any value for x and find the matching value for y
For example, when x is 1:
y = 21 + 1 = 3
Check for yourself that x=1 and y=3 is actually on the line.
Or we could choose another value for x, such as 7:
y = 27 + 1 = 15
And so when x=7 you will have y=15

Example 2

3
m =

= 3
-1
b=0

This gives us y = 3x + 0
We do not need the zero!
Therefore y = 3x

Example 3: Vertical Line

What is the equation for a vertical line?

The slope is undefined ... and where does it cross the Y-Axis?
In fact, this is a special case, and you use a different equation, not "y=...", but instead you use
"x=...".
Like this:
x = 1.5

Every point on the line has x coordinate 1.5,

thats why its equation is x = 1.5

The slope of the curve

Consider the function y = 1/3 x2 - 4 which is
graphed on the right. This function is a curve,
commonly called a parabola. Does it make
sense to talk about the slope of a curve like
this, when clearly it gets steeper and steeper
the further you get from the center? The slope
is changing, point by point, and getting
bigger!
In fact, you can describe the slope of this
curve, if you are willing to work out the slope
at some particular point on the curve.
In this exercise, we will show you how to
determine the steepness (slope) of the curve
at the point (3, -1), shown here by the red dot.

The slope of the curve at (3, -1) is exactly the

same as the slope of the line at (3, -1). This line
touches the curve only at (3, -1) and nowhere
else; it is the tangent to the curve at (3, -1).
If we knew the slope of this line, we would know
the slope of the curve at that point.
Unfortunately, the point (3, -1) is the only point
we know on this line, and we can't determine
slope from just one point; we need two.
But if there was some way to figure out the slope
of that line, we would then have the slope of the
curve at (3, -1). What we're going to do is show
you how to determine the slope of that line ... in a
rather round-about way!
The method we're going to use is as follows. We're going to find the slope of some
lines between points on the curve, ... lines that get closer and closer to the line we
want.
By looking at what the values for the slopes of these lines seem to be
approaching, we'll be able to guess the slope of the tangent line at (3, -1).

Let's begin by finding another point on the curve.

At x = -1, the corresponding y value is -3.7 (from
the equation of the curve).
Join this point to the point (3, -1) to make a line.
This line cuts through the curve in two places, and
is called a secant.
We can work out its slope, because we know two
points on this line, the points:
(3, -1)

and (-1, -3.7)

Here is the slope calculation:

The slope of this secant to the curve is about

0.68
That's not the line we're interested in, but at
least we know the slope of that tangent will be
bigger than 0.68
Now lets move closer to (3, -1) and try again.

Moving to the right, another point on the

curve is the point (0, -4)
Join this point to (3, -1) and make a new
secant.
This line is getting a little closer to the line
we want; we can find its slope like we did
for the previous secant; using the points (0,
-4) and (3, -1), the slope works out to be 1
Clearly the secants are getting steeper.
Let's do it again ...

Now we're at the point (1, -3.7), again obtained from

the table of values for the equation of the curve.
Drawing the secant and working out its slope gives
the value 1.35

This secant is even steeper.

But we're not there yet ... lets find a point even
closer to (3, -1)

Using the point (2, -2.7) and the point (3, -1),
the secant this time is steeper still;
in fact, its slope turns out to be 1.7

Can you see where we're heading? The aim

is to find the slopes of secants that are
getting closer and closer to the tangent at (3,
-1).
Let's do another one ...

This time we've moved very close to (3, -1)

We're at the point (2.5, -1.9)
This secant has slope 1.8

This is very close to the slope of the tangent

right at the point (3, -1). Let's try one more
closer point ...

Using the point (2.8, -1.39), which is right next to

our point (3, -1), we get a secant line with slope

1.95
This should be almost identical to the slope of
the tangent exactly at (3, -1)
We could try closer points, but you should be
able to guess what the slope of the tangent at
(3, -1) will be ...
Here are the slopes of the secants we've found
so far, as we got closer and closer to the tangent
line:
0.68, 1, 1.35, 1.7, 1.8, 1.95 ...
It looks very much like the slopes are getting closer and closer to 2
We could be sure of this by doing the same exercise all over again, from the other side
of (3, -1). If we did, we'd find that the slopes got smaller and smaller as our secant lines
got closer and closer to the tangent; the slopes would again seem to approach the value

CONCLUSION:

By finding the slopes of secants, as the secants

were drawn from points closer and closer to (3,
-1), it was determined that the slope of the tangent
at (3, -1), or the slope of the curve at (3, -1), was
2
This is the 'method of secants' for finding the slope
of a curve at a point, and it works for any curve.
You might want to visit our 'Derivative of a
Polynomial Function' page that introduces calculus,
and a quicker method to find the slope at a point.