need algebra help!?

Question

okay our teacher wants us to show an example of these things x=a and y=b

x=a is vertical line (undefined slope)
and
y=b is horizontal line (0 slope)


how can I show an example of this?

Answer 1

Draw a graph of a coordinate plane:

Draw a line from left to right, label it x.
Draw another line up and down that goes through the first line, label it y.

Where the two lines cross, put a 0. This is called the origin.

Label the first line x=0 (it is a horizontal line).
Label the second line y=0 (it is a vertical line).

And there you have the simplest example of x as a vertical line and y as a horizontal line. In this example, both a and b are 0.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

okay, this is what your teacher means: x is the horizontal axis, and y is the vertical axis. a is any random number.

now, remember this formula: y = mx + b
y is the axis, b is the y-intercept (where the line hits the y-axis, like {0, 5}), x is the other axis, and m is the slope.

y = b means y = the y-intercept. x = a means that x = a number
let's make an example...

1. y = 3 now, in order to solve this, you need to use that formula i showed you (it's called slope-intercept form)... you need an x, but there isn't any! how do you do it? watch...
y = 3 --> y = 0x + 3 makes sense? now you can see why the slope equals 0. the coefficient (the number in front of the x) is 0, so the slope is 0. now, let's try to do the same to x = a.

2. x = a okay, let's convert it...there's no y. and in the slope-intercept form, you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT have ANYTHING, not even a minus sign or 0, in front of a y. that meansx you can't solve it. in other words, it's UNDEFINED. since it is vertical, it has no slope. have you ever seen a truck drive in a vertical line? NEVER! that's why it's called an undefined line!

i hope this has helped you!

Answer 3

You could graph it. x=y and Y=0x