Linear relations > Linear functions
1234Linear functions

Theory

When y is a linear function of x the corresponding formula would look like: y = a x + b , where

  • a is the gradient, a number which gives the increase or decrease per step of 1 ;

  • b is the y-intercept, the outcome at x = 0 .

The graph corresponding to a linear relation is always a straight line through ( 0, b ) .
From there on, increasing the value of x by 1 , results in an outcome increased (or decreased) with a .
The gradient a determines the direction of the graph.

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