LESSON SEVEN

LINEAR EQUATIONS.

7.1 What is Linear Equation?.

 A linear equation is an equation for a straight line

Substitution method
 Solve the system of equations, 2x+3y=1 and x-2y=4 by the substitution method.

 Take one of the equations from Step 1 and solve for either variable. Use x-2y=4 and solve
for x by adding 2y to both sides of the equation to get that x=4+2y.
 Substitute this equation for x from Step 2 into the other equation 2x+3y=1. This then
becomes 2(4+2y)+3y=1.
 Simplify the equation in Step 3 by using the distributive property and then adding like
terms to get 8+7y=1. Now solve for y by subtracting 8 from both sides of the equation and
the equation reduces to 7y= -7. Divide each side by 7 and y= -1.

 Find the value of the remaining variable x by using one of the equations in Step 1 and
substituting y= -1. Let's choose x-2y=4 and substitute y= -1 to get that x+2=4. Then x is
equal to 2 from this final equation and the ordered pair is 2,-1.
 Check this ordered pair in both of the original equations in Step 1 to verify that this is the
solution.

Elimination
Elimination method you either add or subtract the equations to get an equation in one
variable.

 When the coefficients of one variable are opposites you add the equations to eliminate a
variable and when the coefficients of one variable are equal you subtract the equations to
eliminate a variable.

Example
BY: MR. KEVIN NJAGI (LECTURER - MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY) @ SEP - DEC 2021 1
 3y+2x=6

5y−2x=10

We can eliminate the x-variable by addition of the two equations.

3y+2x=6

+ 5y−2x=10

8y =16

y =2

The value of y can now be substituted into either of the original equations to find the value of x

3y+2x=6

3⋅2+2x=63

6+2x=6

x=0

The solution of the linear system is (0, 2).

Graphical
The standard form of a linear equation is y = mx + b
m is the slope. b is the y-intercept (the y-intercept is a point on the y-axis)
Follow the following guidelines to graph a linear equation:

Method 1
Step #1:
Put the y-intercept on the coordinate system.

Step #2:
Starting from the y-intercept, use the slope to locate one more point on the coordinate system

BY: MR. KEVIN NJAGI (LECTURER - MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY) @ SEP - DEC 2021 2
Step #3:
Draw a line between the y-intercept and the other point
• Linear equation in one unknown.

In this type of problems, we use addition or subtraction operation and multiplication or division
operation to move the numbers and get the solution for the one-step equations.
Problem 1:

Identify the solutions to the linear equation 4 + 2x = 12

Solution
Step 1:
In this problem, we use subtraction and division operations to move the numbers and get the
solution for the equation.
4 + 2x = 12

Step 2:
Subtracting 4 from both sides of the equation
4 + 2x – 4 = 12 – 4
2x = 8

Step 3:
Dividing both sides of the equation with 2 to isolate the variable x.
2x/2 = 8/2= 4
So x = 4 is the solution

• Linear equations in two unknowns.

• System of two linear equations in two unknowns.

BY: MR. KEVIN NJAGI (LECTURER - MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY) @ SEP - DEC 2021 3