Linear equation

Definition
A linear equation is an algebraic equation in which each term is either a constant or the product of a constant and (the first power of) a single variable. Linear equations can have one or more variables. Linear equations occur with great regularity in applied mathematics. While they arise quite naturally when modeling many phenomena, they are particularly useful since many non-linear equations may be reduced to linear equations by assuming that quantities of interest vary to only a small e tent from some !bac"ground! state. Linear equations do not include e ponents.

Linear equations in two variables

A common form of a linear equation in the two variables x and y is

where m and b designate constants (parameters). #he origin of the name !linear! comes from the fact that the set of solutions of such an equation forms a straight line in the plane. $n this particular equation, the constant m determines the slope or gradient of that line and the constant term b determines the point at which the line crosses the y-a is, otherwise "nown as the yintercept. %ince terms of linear equations cannot contain products of distinct or equal variables, nor any power (other than &) or other function of a variable, equations involving terms such as xy, x', y&(), and sin(x) are nonlinear.

Equations of the straight line

Linear equations can be rewritten using the laws of elementary algebra into several different forms. #hese equations are often referred to as the !equations of the straight line.! $n what follows, x, y, t, and are variables* other letters represent constants (fi ed numbers).
General (or standard) form

$n the general (or standard) form the linear equation is written as+

where A and B are not both equal to ,ero. #he equation is usually written so that A - ., by convention. #he graph of the equation is a straight line, and every straight line can be represented by an equation in the above form. $f A is non,ero, then the x-intercept, that is, the x-coordinate of the point where the graph crosses the x-a is (where, y is ,ero), is C(A. $f B is non,ero, then the y-

intercept, that is the y-coordinate of the point where the graph crosses the y-a is (where is C(B, and the slope of the line is /A(B. #he general form is sometimes written as+

is ,ero),

where a and b are not both equal to ,ero. #he two versions can be converted from one to the other by moving the constant term to the other side of the equal sign.
Slopeintercept form

where m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept, which is the y-coordinate of the location where line crosses the y a is. #his can be seen by letting x 0 ., which immediately gives y 0 b. $t may be helpful to thin" about this in terms of y 0 b 1 mx* where the line passes through the point (., b) and e tends to the left and right at a slope of m. 2ertical lines, having undefined slope, cannot be represented by this form.
Pointslope form

where m is the slope of the line and (x&,y&) is any point on the line. #he point-slope form e presses the fact that the difference in the y coordinate between two points on a line (that is, y / y&) is proportional to the difference in the x coordinate (that is, x / x&). #he proportionality constant is m (the slope of the line).
Two point form

where (x&, y&) and (x', y') are two points on the line with x' 3 x&. #his is equivalent to the pointslope form above, where the slope is e plicitly given as ( y' / y&)((x' / x&).

4ultiplying both sides of this equation by (x' / x&) yields a form of the line generally referred to as the symmetric form+

!ntercept form

where a and b must be non,ero. #he graph of the equation has x-intercept a and y-intercept b. #he intercept form is in standard form with A(C 0 &(a and B(C 0 &(b. Lines that pass through the origin or which are hori,ontal or vertical violate the non,ero condition on a or b and cannot be represented in this form.

Linear equations in two variables

#he equation of a straight line is usually written this way+

Purpose of Linear Equations

A specific algebraic formula we can use to understand the world around us is the linear equation. %ometimes when we want to understand something we have to account for all the variables involved. When you see a horse galloping around a race trac" and you wonder 5ust how fast she is running, you can use the linear equation+ s 0 d(t (speed is equal to distance divided by time) to discover how fast she was running. "istor# According to the 6ncyclopedia 7ritannica, !#he earliest e tant mathematical te t from 6gypt is the 8hind papyrus (c. &9:. 7.;.). $t and other te ts attest to the ability of the ancient 6gyptians to solve linear equations in one un"nown.! #he <ree" mathematician =ythagoras was using them to solve problems in his life around :.. 7.;. $ecreational %pplication %uppose you want to e perience the thrill of bungee 5umping. >ou?re standing on a bridge that spans a mighty river. #he water is '.. feet below and you have a :.foot bungee cord strapped around your an"le. Are you safe@ #hat depends on how far the bungee cord will stretch given your weight. Let us assume that we "now that &..-pound person will cause a :.-foot bungee cord to stretch A..B feet and a &&.-pound person will cause it to stretch A9.C feet. Dow we can set up our equation for finding the stretch distance of a given weight+ %tretch 0 (weight) 1 :.. Let?s find E for a &..-pound person. A..B 0 (&..) 1 :. A..B 0 &.. 1 :. )..B 0 &.. .)& 0 Let?s find for a &&.-pound person. A9.C 0 (&&.) 1 :. A9.C 0 &&. 1 :. )9.C 0 &&. .)) 0 Fid you notice how E increased by two hundredths for that &.-pound weight increase@ $f you weighed &:. pounds, you would plug in the "nown variables to find the un"nown one. E 0 .G&(&:.) 1 :. E 0 9&.: 1 :. E 0 &&&.:

>our :.-foot cord would stretch an additional &&&.: feet and you would recoil well above the swirling waters below. Sports %pplication What about our horse at the race trac"@ Let?s figure out how fast she ran her last race. We "now that her last race was one mile long and she too" three minutes to finish. %ince we "now that speed 0 distance(time we would merely need to plug in the "nown variables. E 0 & mile() minutes E 0 & mile(...: (this is ) divided by 9., and will give us our answer in miles per hour) E 0 '. miles per hour. &inancial %pplications Hinally, let us loo" at a financial application of a linear equation. (Hor more linear equation, e amples, including a detailed brea"down of this one, see the 8esource lin" below.) %omeone invests I'.,... in two bond mutual funds, a 5un" bond fund and a government bond fund. #he 5un" bond fund is ris"y and yields &&J interest. #he safer government bond fund yields only :J. #he total income for the year from the two investments was I&,)... Kow much did she invest in each fund@ ..&& 1 ...:('.,... -- ) 0 &).. ..&& 1 &,...- ...: 0 &).. ..9 1 &... 0 &,).. ..9 0 ).. E 0 :,.... I:,... is the amount invested in the 5un" bond and I&:,... is the amount invested in the government bond. #he above e amples show us that the purpose of the linear equation is to describe relationships among different variables in a variety of practical applications. >ou might find occasions to apply linear equations in your own life.

Broader Use of Linear Equations

Linear equations can describe physics, business and biology. %ystems of linear equations model phenomena with multiple relationships. #hey are a conceptual foundation for calculus-based theories of slope and are utili,ed in numeric appro imations. Ph#sics 6quations of the form y 0 m 1 b can trac" movement. #he constant b defines the starting position, and m describes steady velocity. #he variable is the time during which movement is occurring at velocity m. #ogether, this information gives the total distance covered--y. Economics A fundamental tool of the economist is the supply and demand curve that shows how much of a particular good a supplier will produce and how much the consumer will purchase at a given price. A linear equation produces the relationship between price and units and can therefore be used to determine the equilibrium price -- the price at which the supplier will produce the e act number of units demanded by the consumer. #his is useful for creating economic models, though in practice supply and demand do not generally behave in such a well-ordered fashion. 'usiness $n finance, if you start with I: (b 0 I:) and wor" for 9 hours at I&.(hr (m 0 I&.(hr, 0 9 hours), after those 9 hours there is m 1 b 0 &.(9) 1 : 0 I9:. Linear equation is widely used in business. 'iolog# ;ric"et chirping frequency correlates to outside temperature. A pro5ect e ploring this was conducted by Lane 4. 7rown of the Mniversity Nf $llinois ;ollege Nf 6ducation. (ultiple Linear Equations %ystems of linear equations can describe several ob5ect types. %cenarios involve coin types when dealing with change and amount and total mass of light(heavy weights at a gym. 'road (athematical $elevance Linear equations are relevant to advanced mathematics. Dewton?s method is based on repeated applications of linear equations. !ntro to )alculus %tudents soon understand that a steeper line has a larger (absolute) value of m. ;alculus-based concepts of slope can be introduced by referring to linear equations as a beginning e ample.

Examples of Linear Equations Used in Real Life

#he value of linear equations may be appreciated more when applied to real life e amples. Linear equations model the relationship between two variables and the effect that a change on one variable has on the other. *emand )urve #he demand curve illustrates the relationship between the price of a product and the quantity consumers are willing to buy. At lower prices, consumers may be willing to buy more but buy less as prices increase. Suppl# )urve #he supply curve shows the relationship between prices and quantities of products businesses are willing to produce. 7usinesses determine how much of their products to sell at a price that ma imi,es profits. !nterest $ates Linear equations may also model the relationship between investment and interest rates which show that as interest rates increase the general level of investment will decrease and increase as interest rates decrease. &oreign )urrencies >ou can also compare currency e change rates with a linear equation to see how changes in the value of the Argentine peso affect the M.%. dollar. %cceleration and *istance Traveled A linear equation can be used to calculate an increase or decrease in speed after a fi ed period of steady acceleration or deceleration. #he final speed will be the initial speed plus the rate of acceleration multiplied by the period of time the car accelerated. %imilarly, if a vehicle travels at a fi ed speed, a linear equation can be used to calculate the distance it travels over a fi ed period.

How to Use Linear Equations in Everyday Life

=eople tend not to thin" in terms of equations and formulas in their daily lives. #hey use language to describe the situation. 7ut words can be translated into the language of mathematics. #a"e a very simple e ample+ A mother has to divide si apples among three children. 6ffortlessly she reaches the conclusion that each child gets two apples. What she has used is the mathematical function of division to reach the answer+ 9()0'. 4athematics is used in everyday life, although most of the time you won?t even reali,e you are using it. 6verything from dividing a ca"e into equal portions to determining the sale price of an item on the clearance rac" requires mathematics. Nne of the most commonly used mathematical tools is linear equations. Linear equations permit their users to solve comple and fle ible problems with a set of simple equations. #hose things that never change in the equation are called constants. #he things that do change are variables and are traditionally represented by letters. Situation +, ;alculate your cab fare for a trip home by forming a linear equation. #he boarding rate that the driver requires is a constant* the meter rate is also a constant, but must be multiplied by how far you went. %o, if the meter rate is I', the boarding rate is IG and distance is represented by ! !, the linear equation would be ' 1 G 0 cab fare. Situation -, ;alculate your fuel efficiency. Let?s say your car gets G. miles to the gallon when you travel below :. miles per hour and ). miles per gallon when you travel above :. miles per hour. Fetermine how much fuel you?ll need to drive somewhere by calculating how often you?ll travel under and over :. miles per hour. %o the equation could be a(). 1 b(G. 0 fuel needed. Situation ., Fetermine how much weight you?ll lose by creating a calorie-burning equation. Hor instance, you?ll burn &'. calories per hour of wal"ing. %o multiply &'. calories by the number of hours you wal"ed and you?ll determine how many calories you burned. $f you wal"ed less than & hour, use the fraction for how long you did wal", such as one-quarter hour. #he equation for this would simply be &'. 0 burnt calories. Situation /, %uppose your office is ). miles away from home. >ou have to get there at A a.m., and "now that the traffic is moving at 9. miles per hour. #o find out the time you should leave home, translate the word problem into an equation+ time ta"en 0 distance divided by the rate of travel. %o t (time) 0 d (distance)(r (rate), and t0).(9.. %o t0&(' or half an hour. #o reach the office at A a.m., you should leave at C+). a.m.

Situation /, Kow many minutes are there in four hours@ Let 0 the number of hours, and y 0 the number of minutes. 7y definition, there are 9. minutes in one hour. %o you can write a linear equation to describe this relationship+ y 0 9. . #he number of minutes equals 9. times the number of hours. Hor e ample, let 0 G. #hen plug the number into the linear equation to get y 0 9.OG. %o y 0 'G. minutes.

Kow Are Linear 6quations Msed in 7usiness@

Linear functions have a ma5or application in business decision ma"ing. At this very moment, lowest-cost and higher-profit decisions are being made somewhere with information generated by computers manipulating linear relationships. Linear functions are of special importance since they are easy to manipulate and understand both graphically and symbolically. 7ecause of this many non-linear situations are analy,ed using linear appro imations. #he intent of the appro imation is to "eep things as simple as possible. Linear equations are about the use of "nown quantities to discover un"nown quantities. 7usiness is about the e change of money, and any unit of money is measured as a quantity. #he money is e changed for other quantities--for hours of wor", for tons of raw materials or for the volts of electricity that may constitute the overhead costs of a manufacturing plant, for e ample. *escribing Profit from Sales

%uppose you are an entrepreneur who has 5ust purchased &,... apples for I:.. $f you ma"e &. cents profit on each apple, you may want to find your total profit if you sell all the apples. Mse the equation # 0 p O s - c, where # 0 total profit, p 0 profit on each sale, s 0 number of sales and c 0 your costs. =lugging the values into the equation, you have #0 ..&(&,...) - :. 0 I:.. $f, on the other hand, you only sell G.. apples, the equation becomes # 0 ..&(G..) - :. 0 - I&.. >ou would be I&. in the hole. (anipulating Linear Equations 'rea0 even )alculation

8emember that an equation is an e pression of equality, so you can perform any type of arithmetic operation on both sides of the equation. %uppose in the previous e ample you want to "now how many apples you need to sell to brea" even. %o now your un"nown value is not #. >ou are setting that equal to ,ero to try to find !s,! the total number of sales. %tart with the same equation, # 0 p O s - c. =lug in the values that you "now+ . 0 ..&(s) - :.. Dow isolate the un"nown variable. %tart by adding :. to both sides of the equation+ :. 0 ..&(s). Dow divide both sides by ..&. >ou?ll get :.. 0 s. >ou need to sell :.. apples to brea" even.

)alculating )osts

When calculating anything of which you will buy more than one and which has some e tra fi ed cost attached, you will use a linear equation. $f you are renting a car for a day your total cost will be the day?s rental plus each gallon of fuel used multiplied by the cost of the fuel. $f you have a phone contract you may pay a fi ed line rental plus the number of minutes you called multiplied by the cost of each minute. Msing linear equations can also help you to ma"e the most economical choice of tariff. A tariff with a high fi ed cost but a low unit cost will prove cheaper than a tariff which offers the opposite only after a certain number of units have been used. A linear equation will allow you to determine this number. )onverting 'etween 1nits

;onverting between unit types -- whether a conversion from one currency to another, from the imperial to the metric system of measurement, or from Hahrenheit to ;entigrade -- requires a linear equation. $f one dollar equaled two 7ritish pounds, then two dollars would be four pounds and so on. A steady change in one variable leads to a steady change in the other. Nne mile is equal to &.9.B "ilometers, so "0 m &.9.B, again creating a steady relationship between the two units which can be illustrated by a linear equation. 2eights and (easures

%ay in a bread production factory, a recipe calls for &.. grams of flour, but you can only weigh in ounces. >ou use a mathematical formula to convert grams to ounces. Nr you measure the driveway to figure out how much concrete you will need to pave it. 7udgeting, investing, sewing, coo"ing--math is everywhere. Simple Sample

A cleaning contractor has two employees, A and 7, who are available to clean a particular office building. Hrom prior e perience, their manager "nows that A can clean this comple in : hours. Also, A and 7 wor"ing simultaneously--A from the bottom floors up, 7 from the top floors down--can get it done in ).: hours. Kow long would it ta"e 7 to do the 5ob alone@ #he linear equation that would come in handy here is &(:().:) 1 &(t().:) 0 &. 4ultiplying both sides by :t yields+ ).:t 1 ().:)(:) 0 :t, wor"ing that through yields a t of &&.9C hours. #he contractor should probably fire 7 and hire more As. Standard *efinition

#he e ample &(:().:) 1 &(t().:) 0 & is a linear equation by the standard definition, which means it is an algebraic equation in which there is no variable of higher than the first degree. $t isn?t an especially interesting linear equation, though, because it only has one variable. We "now everything about employee A going in, so the only variable t was that representing our desideratum, 7?s time.

7oth mathematical interest and business applications increase when we add another variable. Kowever, we will stic" to the rule that only first-power variables, which graph as straight lines, are allowed. %llocating )osts 'etween *epartments

%uppose a particular business has both an engineering department (6) and a general manufacturing plant (<=). #hey share certain overhead costs, yet for purposes of accounting, these overhead costs may have to be allocated between them. =erhaps reciprocal services are allowed between the two departments and this ma"es the allocation tric"y. A reallocation to ta"e account of that reciprocity could well involve the solution of two simultaneous linear equations* for e ample, in this form+ &) <= 0 I'.,... 1 '6. ') 6 0 I&.,... 1 &(9<=. +3 Substitution and Solution Msing the reallocation e ample, insert the second formula into the first and you have+ <= 0 I'.,... 1 '(&.,... 1 &(9<=). %olving that algebraically yields general plant overhead costs of I9.,.... $nsert that answer into ('), and you get a reallocated engineering department overhead cost of I'.,.... )onclusion Linear equations are most frequently used in business to determine prices, to create plans, to derive values and to assist in ma"ing decisions.