Name_____________________________

ALGEBRA: UNIT 5 LINEAR FUNCTIONS NOTES

WARM UP: Jessica needs to get to school in 10 minutes of else she will be late for her first
1
class. Her school is 5 meters away from home and she walks meters per second. Write an
2
equation that relates the time and the distance Jessica walks, then create a graph and a table of
values to determine if she made it to school on time.

Equation: _________________________

Table of values:

Did Jessica make it to school on time? _____________

FINDING THE SLOPE OF A LINE:

GRAPHICALLY:

Slope = ratio = -------------------------------

Directions to find slope given a graph:

1.

2.

3.
  TRY ON YOUR OWN: Given the graph, find the slope of the line.

# units up / down
Slope = ratio = = -------
# units left / right

WITH A TABLE OF VALUES:

Slope = rate =
-------------------------------------

What do you notice about the slope from the graph and
the table of values?__________________

Directions to find slope with a table of values:

1.

2.

3.

SOMETIMES YOU WILL NOT HAVE A TABLE THAT GIVES YOU THE SEQUENTIAL
VALUES FOR X:

To determine if this is linear, follow the same directions:

change of y
Slope = rate = = -----
change of x
  TRY ON YOUR OWN: Given the table of values, find the slope of the line.

Slope = -----

SLOPE-INTERCEPT FORM: y = mx + b
m = ___________________ b= ____________________

GRAPHICALLY:

1
Remember when Jessica walked meters per second.
2

Slope = rate = -------

Where does the line of the graph go through the y-axis?

_______________

Equation in slope-intercept form:__________________

 TRY ON YOUR OWN: Given the graph, write the equation of the line in slope-intercept
form.

rise
Slope (m) = = ---------
run

Where does the line intercept the y-axis? b = ___________

Equation of the line in slope-intercept form:____________

WITH A TABLE OF VALUES:

1
Given a table of values for the scenario: Jessica walks meters per
2
second, write an equation in slope-intercept form.

Slope = ratio = ------------------------ = ------

Find the y-intercept: when x = 0, y = ______

Equation of the line in slope-intercept form:_____________________

 TRY ON YOUR OWN: Given the table of values, write the equation of the line in slope-
intercept form.

constant change in y
Slope = = --------
constant change in x

What is y when x = 0? ___________________

Equation of the line in slope-intercept form:____________________

SOMETIMES YOU WILL NOT HAVE A TABLE THAT GIVES YOU X=0:

Example: Given the table of values, write the equation of the line in slope-intercept form.

GRAPHING IN SLOPE-INTRECEPT FORM: y = mx + b

 Remember: m = ____________ b = ____________

Example: Given the equation y = 4 x + 1 , draw a graph.

Directions to graph a line given an equation:

1.

2.

3.

2
 TRY ON YOUR OWN: Given the equation y = − x−3
3

 TRY ON YOUR OWN: Given the equation

y = −2 x + 4