Question

What is the equation in standard form of the line which passes through (−2, −3) and has a slope of one half?
Please don't just give me the answer, I would like to know how to do it for future problems.

Answer 1

The standard form of a line looks like this: Ax+By=C

Since you are given the slope of the line as 1/2, I would use the slope point form of a line to find the constants in the standard form of a line.

The slope form of a line looks like this: y=mx+b. Where m is the slope of the line and small case b is where the line crosses the y axis.

So substitute the values for x, y and slope in to the point slope equation and solve for b.

-3 = 1/2(-2) +b
-3 = -1 +b
-2 = b

Now just plug in the b value and slope into the point slope equation. Don't plug in the given values for the x and y. It should look like this:

y = 1/2x -2

Now rearrange the equation.

1/2x -y = 2

Clear the fraction

2(1/2x) - 2(y) = 2(2)

Standard form is:
x-2y=4

Answer 2

Thank you very much