Zero Method?

Question

I just checked everywhere in my textbooks to find out exactly what the "Zero Method" is, and what do ya know... it's not in there. I'm supposed to use the Zero Method to find the coordinates of an equation. Can someone please exlplain to me exactly what the Zero Method is so I can go on with this math? =P
~Thanks in advance!~

Hmm, that may work. I'll try it out right now. Thanks! ^.~

Here... I'll just type out exactly what it says to do. I tried to explain it in my own words, sorry that some of you didn't understand. This is what I have to do:

Using the Zero method, determine the coordinates that would graph the equation 3x + 2y = 12

Answer 1

make x = 0 then solve for y.

after that, make y = 0 then solve for x.

you'll have two sets of answers

(x,0) and (0,y)

Answer 2

Hi,

Your first answer is explaining how to find the equation of a straight line using the x and y intercepts. If straight lines are what you are working on, that answer is correct. However, if you are working on quadratic equations with 2 x intercepts at p and q, its equation is

y = a ( x - p )( x - q). You would then need to have a third point to substitute its x and y coordinates for x and y so you could find the value of a. then you can write the equation keeping x and y as variables.

Answer 3

this doesn't make sense. equations don't have coordinates. a solution to an equation has coordinates. are you looking for the zeros of the equation? the intecepts of the equation? give us some more info.

There is a Zero Factor Property to find the solutions or x-intercepts of an equation.

Or, you can find the x or y intercepts by setting the other coordinate to zero, but I never heard that called the Zero Method.

Answer 4

I think that is where you let x=0 and solve for y and then let y=0 and solve for x. You then plot the coordinates on a graph. I know it works for a straight line.

Answer 5

This is the most sensible example I found on the Net:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006051406829