Question

HELP? I'm so so stuck on this simple question, I think i'm overthinking it. How do I graph y=50x + 200? I know that this equation is in slope-intercept form (y= mx+b) and m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. But, whenever i plug in the numbers and try to plot the equation, what i'm getting doesn't seem to represent y= 50x + 200.

Answer 1

Wait, i'm in the biology section. Sorry, but if anyone knows how to solve this please comment.

Answer 2

@mathmate

Answer 3

@alexisss1999 I think that is because your calculator is not set up for it.

Answer 4

@alexisss1999 Put in x=0 and what do you have? 200 right? No put in y=0 and solve for x. As you can see it is outside the -10 to 10 x by -10 to 10 y screen of most graphics calculators.

Answer 5

No, i'm not using a calculator. This is my graph. I have to graph a line representing y= 50x + 200. I already did the first step, which is to plot (0,200), but I'm lost after that. @mrdoldum

Answer 6

Well, at x=1 what is y? Then look at x=2. Is the slope positive or negative. @alexisss1999

Answer 7

it seems to be undefine.

Answer 8

the slope is positive, correct?

Answer 9

@misty1212

Answer 10

@alexisss1999 Yep. So we know it crosses the at the point (0,200), right? That point is now fixed. Let us now ignore the 200 because it doesn't matter. Make a table of your 50x values.

50(x)
50(1)=50
50(2)=100
50(3)-150
...

Now we need to remember the 200. So, where is x=4?

Answer 11

@alexisss1999 It should help you that your y-axis units are increments of 50, which is the same as our slope.

Answer 12

I'm getting confused again, someone else explained this to me in a very different way, and she showed me how the graph is supposed to look, but I still wasn't very sure on how to solve future problems like this. So, can you explain a little more?

Answer 13

@alexisss1999 Sure. One strategy is to first find where your line crosses the y-axis. In the format (slope-intercept), we know that it is the "b" value. Then we look at the slope.

Answer 14

The slope is positive which means as we go to the right on the x axis, increasing the x value, the line should get further away from the x axis. The line will look like that.

Answer 15

For a positive slope, as you move along the x-axis the y value will go up by mx+b. Okay, so for x=0 we are at (0,200) we look at x=1 (1,250).
(2,300)
(3,350)
(4,400)

those are the points along the line.

Answer 16

I get it now. Thank you so much for your help! @mrdoldum I was thinking something totally different, but this makes much more sense. Have a nice day. :)

Answer 17

Glad I could help. @alexisss1999