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2.3: Standard Form

Difficulty Level: At Grade Created by: CK-12
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Practice Standard Form of Linear Equations
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At a football game, Brian is selling concessions. He sells soda for $2 apiece and popcorn for$3 per bag. At the end of the night, he has sold out of soda and has made a total of \$264. If he sold 60 sodas, how many bags of popcorn did he sell?

Guidance

Slope-intercept form is one way to write the equation of a line. Another way is called standard form. Standard form looks like Ax+By=C,\begin{align*}Ax + By = C,\end{align*} where A,B,\begin{align*}A, B,\end{align*} and C\begin{align*}C\end{align*} are all integers. In the Review Queue above, the equations from problems 1 and 2 are in standard form. Once they are solved for y,\begin{align*}y,\end{align*} they will be in slope-intercept form.

Example A

Find the equation of a line, in standard form, where the slope is 34\begin{align*}\frac{3}{4}\end{align*} and passes through (4, -1).

Solution: To find the equation in standard form, you need to determine what A,B,\begin{align*}A, B,\end{align*} and C\begin{align*}C\end{align*} are. Let’s start this example by finding the equation in slope-intercept form.

114=34(4)+b=3+b=b\begin{align*}-1 &= \frac{3}{4}(4) + b\\ -1 &= 3 + b \\ -4 &= b\end{align*}

In slope-intercept form, the equation is y=34x4\begin{align*}y = \frac{3}{4}x-4\end{align*}.

To change this to standard form we need to subtract the x\begin{align*}x-\end{align*}term from both sides of the equation.

34x+y=4\begin{align*}- \frac{3}{4}x+y = -4\end{align*}

However, we are not done. In the definition, A,B,\begin{align*}A, B,\end{align*} and C\begin{align*}C\end{align*} are all integers. At the moment, A\begin{align*}A\end{align*} is a fraction. To undo the fraction, we must multiply all the terms by the denominator, 4. We also will multiply by a negative so that the x\begin{align*}x-\end{align*}coefficient will be positive.

4(34x+y=4)  3x4y=16\begin{align*}& -4 \left(-\frac{3}{4}x+y = -4 \right)\\ & \qquad \ \ 3x - 4y = 16\end{align*}

Example B

The equation of a line is 5x2y=12\begin{align*}5x-2y = 12\end{align*}. What are the slope and y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept?

Solution: To find the slope and y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept of a line in standard form, we need to switch it to slope-intercept form. This means, we need to solve the equation for y\begin{align*}y\end{align*}.

5x2y2yy=12=5x+12=52x6\begin{align*}5x - 2y &= 12\\ -2y &= -5x + 12 \\ y &= \frac{5}{2}x - 6\end{align*}

From this, the slope is 52\begin{align*}\frac{5}{2}\end{align*} and the y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept is (0, -6).

Example C

Find the equation of the line below, in standard form.

Solution: Here, we are given the intercepts. The slope triangle is drawn by the axes, 62=3\begin{align*}\frac{-6}{-2} = 3\end{align*}. And, the y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept is (0, 6). The equation of the line, in slope-intercept form, is y=3x+6\begin{align*}y = 3x + 6\end{align*}. To change the equation to standard form, subtract the x\begin{align*}x-\end{align*}term to move it over to the other side.

3x+y=6 or 3xy=6\begin{align*}-3x + y = 6 \ or \ 3x - y = -6\end{align*}

Example D

The equation of a line is 6x5y=45\begin{align*}6x - 5y = 45\end{align*}. What are the intercepts?

Solution: For the x\begin{align*}x-\end{align*}intercept, the y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}value is zero. Plug in zero for y\begin{align*}y\end{align*} and solve for x\begin{align*}x\end{align*}.

6x5y6x5(0)6xx=45=45=45=456 or 152\begin{align*}6x - 5y &= 45\\ 6x - 5(0) &= 45\\ 6x &= 45 \\ x &= \frac{45}{6} \ or \ \frac{15}{2}\end{align*}

The x\begin{align*}x-\end{align*}intercept is (152,0)\begin{align*}\left(\frac{15}{2}, 0 \right)\end{align*}.

For the y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept, the x\begin{align*}x-\end{align*}value is zero. Plug in zero for x\begin{align*}x\end{align*} and solve for y\begin{align*}y\end{align*}.

6x5y6(0)5y5yy=45=45=45=9\begin{align*}6x -5y &= 45\\ 6(0) - 5y &= 45\\ 5y &= 45 \\ y &= 9\end{align*}

The y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept is (0, 9).

Intro Problem Revisit This type of problem is easier to write in standard form. We will call x the number of sodas and y the number of bags of popcorn. The coefficents are the cost of each item in dollars. The expression will equal the total amount of concessions Brian sold.

2x+3y=264\begin{align*}2x+3y=264\end{align*}

Now, we know that x=60\begin{align*}x=60\end{align*}. Plug that in and solve for y.

2(60)+3y120+3y3yy=264=264=144=48\begin{align*}2(60)+3y&=264 \\ 120+3y&=264\\ 3y&=144\\ y&=48\end{align*}

Therefore, Brian sold 48 bags of popcorn.

Guided Practice

1. Find the equation of the line, in standard form that passes through (8, -1) and (-4, 2).

2. Change 2x+3y=9\begin{align*}2x + 3y = 9\end{align*} to slope-intercept form.

3. What are the intercepts of 3x4y=24\begin{align*}3x - 4y = -24\end{align*}?

1. Like with Example A, we need to first find the equation of this line in y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept form and then change it to standard form. First, find the slope.

2(1)48=312=14\begin{align*}\frac{2-(-1)}{-4-8} = \frac{3}{-12} = - \frac{1}{4}\end{align*}

Find the y\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept using slope-intercept form.

\begin{align*}2 &= - \frac{1}{4}(-4) + b\\ 2 &= 1 + b \\ 1 &= b\end{align*}

The equation of the line is \begin{align*}y = - \frac{1}{4}x + 1\end{align*}.

To change this equation into standard form, add the \begin{align*}x-\end{align*}term to both sides and multiply by 4 to get rid of the fraction.

\begin{align*}& \quad \frac{1}{4}x + y = 1\\ & 4 \left(\frac{1}{4}x + y = 1 \right)\\ & \quad \ x + 4y = 1\end{align*}

2. To change \begin{align*}2x + 3y = 9\end{align*} into slope-intercept form, solve for \begin{align*}y\end{align*}.

\begin{align*}2x + 3y &=9\\ 3y &= -2x + 9\\ y &= - \frac{2}{3}x + 3\end{align*}

3. Copy Example D to find the intercepts of \begin{align*}3x - 4y = -24\end{align*}. First, plug in zero for \begin{align*}y\end{align*} and solve for \begin{align*}x\end{align*}.

\begin{align*}3x - 4(0) &= -24\\ 3x &= -24 \\ x &= -8\end{align*}

\begin{align*}x-\end{align*}intercept is (-8, 0)

Now, start over and plug in zero for \begin{align*}x\end{align*} and solve for \begin{align*}y\end{align*}.

\begin{align*}3(0) - 4y &=-24\\ -4y &= -24 \\ y &= 6\end{align*}

\begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept is (6, 0)

Vocabulary

Standard Form (of a line)
When a line is in the form \begin{align*}Ax + By = C\end{align*} and \begin{align*}A, B,\end{align*} and \begin{align*}C\end{align*} are integers.

Practice

Change the following equations into standard form.

1. \begin{align*}y = - \frac{2}{3}x + 4\end{align*}
2. \begin{align*}y = x - 5\end{align*}
3. \begin{align*}y = \frac{1}{5}x - 1\end{align*}

Change the following equations into slope-intercept form.

1. \begin{align*}4x + 5y = 20\end{align*}
2. \begin{align*}x - 2y = 9\end{align*}
3. \begin{align*}2x -3y = 15\end{align*}

Find the \begin{align*}x\end{align*} and \begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercepts of the following equations.

1. \begin{align*}3x + 4y = 12\end{align*}
2. \begin{align*}6x - y = 8\end{align*}
3. \begin{align*}3x + 8y = -16\end{align*}

Find the equation of the lines below, in standard form.

1. slope = 2 and passes through (3, -5)
2. slope \begin{align*}= - \frac{1}{2}\end{align*} and passes through (6, -3).
3. passes through (5, -7) and (-1, 2)
4. passes through (-5, -5) and (5, -3)
5. Change \begin{align*}Ax + By = C\end{align*} into slope-intercept form.
6. From #16, what are the slope and \begin{align*}y-\end{align*}intercept equal to (in terms of \begin{align*}A, B,\end{align*} and/or \begin{align*}C\end{align*})?
7. Using #16 and #17, find one possible combination of \begin{align*}A, B,\end{align*} and \begin{align*}C\end{align*} for \begin{align*}y = \frac{1}{2}x - 4\end{align*}. Write your answer in standard form.
8. The measure of a road’s slope is called the grade. The grade of a road is measured in a percentage, for how many vertical feet the road rises or declines over 100 feet. For example, a road with a grade incline of 5% means that for every 100 horizontal feet the road rises 5 vertical feet. What is the slope of a road with a grade decline of 8%?
9. The population of a small town in northern California gradually increases by about 50 people a year. In 2010, the population was 8500 people. Write an equation for the population of this city and find its estimated population in 2017.

Vocabulary Language: English

Standard Form

Standard Form

The standard form of a line is $Ax + By = C$, where $A, B,$ and $C$ are real numbers.

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