Help With Standard Form, Etc.

Math is most useful to those folks who measure or count or have an interest in the patterns objects can or do form. If you don't do that, and never have, then it can be a mystery. Some people have real difculty with the kinds of thinking involved in what we call math skills. (See the third source link.) If you are one of them, be aware it is possible to develop coping skills to take advantage of the learning strengths you do have. It is not too late to develop some number sense if you so desire. You can do this by playing board games requiring counting and score-keeping, by cooking from recipes--especially ones that may require you to make some fraction or multiple of the full recipe. Playing jacks is another (fun) way to develop some sense of what numbers are about. (See the rst 2 source links for references.) Cutting pies, cakes, or other symmetrical objects into different numbers of equal pieces can give you an appreciation of fractions and their comparative sizes. Sorting and counting coins, and making change, can also be useful exercises. Some people "hate math" because they had a bad experience with it on an emotional level. Such "trauma" can result from humiliation after trying as hard as you can. There are ways to deal with this, too, if you're interested. (4th link). _____ Part 1. Q: How do you determine what form of linear equation you use. A: There are a number of recognized forms for the equation for a line. (5th link) The one you choose in response to a particular question will depend on several factors: - you remember it - the problem statement demands it - you have the necessary information to use it easily - it conveniently displays information you need, or it simplies nding that information. It is often convenient to memorize two forms of the equation for a line, "slope-intercept form", and "standard form". School questions often require the use of one or the other of these forms (as in Part 2, for example). It is also helpful to learn how to use given data to make one of these forms or the other. Examples are provided in Part 2. About "slope": . You are familiar with the idea of "slope" from your walking, riding a bicycle, or even riding in a car in hilly (or mountainous) country. The measure of "slope" is the ratio that surveyors know as "rise over run." . A "steep" slope is one that has a large rise for its run. A negative slope is one that falls, rather than rises, in the direction of positive run. . The idea of slope can help you when plotting graphs, because it tells you how many units up or down the graphed line goes for each horizontal unit in the positive direction. _____ Part 2 Given: one of the sets of points listed here (5, 1), (3, 4) (0, 2), (3, 2)

(2, 1), (1, 2) Find: .. a) the point-slope form of the equation for a line through the points .. b) the standard form equation of the line .. c) the slope-intercept form of the equation of the line. Solution: We will use the notation (x1, y1) to describe the rst point of a pair, and (x2, y2) to describe the second point. (Which is which absolutely does not matter, as long as you don't mix them up in the middle of a problem.) We will use "m" to refer to the slope. We will use "b" to refer to the intercept in the slope-intercept form of the equation. We will use "a", "b", and "c" to refer to the coefcients in the standard form of the equation. Remember that the "y" value of a point is its distance in the vertical direction from the "origin", and the "x" value of a point is its distance from the origin in the horizontal direction. Then the difference in x values of two points (x2 - x1) is the horizontal "run" between them. And the difference in y values (y2 - y1) is the vertical "rise" between them. The ratio "rise over run" is the slope of the line connecting these points. .. m = (y2 - y1)/(x2 - x1) For the rst pair of points, this computes to be .. m = (4 - 1)/(-3 - 5) = 3/-8 = -3/8 You will note that we have chosen (x1, y1) = (5, 1), which is to say x1=5, y1=1. And we have chosen (x2, y2) = (-3, 4), or x2=-3, y2=4. You can see that y2-y1 is then 4-1 as we have above, and x2-x1 is -3-5. Now, the "point-slope" form of a linear equation looks like .. (y - y1) = m(x - x1) which is completely equivalent to .. y = m(x - x1) + y1 You get the second equation from the rst by adding y1 to both sides. For the rst point pair, the point-slope equation of the line is .. y - 1 = -3/8(x - 5) The slope-intercept form of the equation for a line looks like .. y = mx + b This is very similar to the above equation, except that there are no parentheses, and the constant (b) is a single number. This is called the slope-intercept form because (0, b) is the y-intercept of the line it describes. That is, the line crosses the y-axis at y=b. We can use the "point-slope" form and "solve for y" to get the slope-intercept form. .. y - 1 = -3/8(x - 5) ... start with point-slope form .. y = -3/8(x - 5) + 1 ... add 1 to both sides .. y = (-3/8)x + 15/8 + 1 ... eliminate parentheses using the distributive property .. y = (-3/8)x + 23/8 ... combine constant terms Similarly, we can rearrange to get the standard form, which is .. ax + by = c

where "a" is a positive number, and a, b, and c, are generally integers. We can multiply the slope-intercept equation by 8 and add 3x to get to standard form. .. y = (-3/8)x + 23/8 ... start with slope-intercept form .. 8y = -3x + 23 ... multiply both sides of the equation by 8 .. 3x + 8y = 23 ... add 3x to both sides of the equation. This is the desired standard form. _____ One can get to the standard form perhaps a little more directly as follows. .. compute ... a = y2 - y1 .. compute ... b = x1 - x2 .. compute ... c = a(x1) + b(y1) The standard form equation will be .. ax + by = c (You may be able to remember that there are two opposites involved: the y difference multiplies x, and vice versa (opposite of x multiplying x); and the order of difference-taking is the opposite for the two pairs (opposite of doing it the same way). As before, what you call the rst point and what you call the second point doesn't matter. Nor does it matter which point you use to compute "c".) _____ For the second pair of points, this looks like .. a = 2 - (-2) = 4 .. b = 0 - 3 = -3 .. c = 4(0) + (-3)(-2) = 6 The standard form of the equation is .. 4x - 3y = 6 This equation can be solved for y to get the slope-intercept form. .. 4x - 3y = 6 .. -3y = -4x + 6 ... subtract 4x from both sides .. y = (-4/-3)x + (6/-3) ... divide by the coefcient of y .. y = (4/3)x - 2 In this form, we recognize m=4/3, so we can use that to write the point-slope form .. y - 2 = 4/3(x - 3) ... using the second listed point as the "point" in the "point-slope form" .. y - (-2) = 4/3(x - 0) ... using the rst listed point. This simplies to .. y + 2 = 4/3x or .. y = 4/3x - 2 ... this is a bit of a trick question in that one of the given points is the yintercept. This version of point-slope form ends up identical to the slope-intercept form. _____ There is a web site that can solve these or help you check your work. See the last source link. It gives the "standard form" equation as .. ax + by - c = 0 This is an alternate form that may be preferred by some teachers or textbooks. Source Links: http://www.momswhothink.com/cookie-recipes/monster-cookie-recipe.html

http://www.streetplay.com/thegames/jacks/ http://books.google.com/books/about/A_Mind_at_a_Time.html?id=c0Fj1mNCIHAC http://www.eftisland.com/html/_____alternative.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equation_of_a_line#Forms_for_2D_linear_equations http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=line+through+%28%E2%80%932%2C+ %E2%80%931%29+and+%281%2C+2%29