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The phrase "linear equation" takes its origin in this correspondence between lines and equations: a linear equation in two variables is an equation whose solutions form a line. If b ≠ 0, the line is the graph of the function of x that has been defined in the preceding section. If b = 0, the line is a vertical line (that is a line parallel to ...
The equation of a line can be given in vector form: = + Here a is the position of a point on the line, and n is a unit vector in the direction of the line. Then as scalar t varies, x gives the locus of the line. The distance of an arbitrary point p to this line is given by
Euclidean distance. In mathematics, the Euclidean distance between two points in Euclidean space is the length of the line segment between them. It can be calculated from the Cartesian coordinates of the points using the Pythagorean theorem, and therefore is occasionally called the Pythagorean distance . These names come from the ancient Greek ...
Slope. Slope: In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes the direction and steepness of the line. [ 1] Often denoted by the letter m, slope is calculated as the ratio of the vertical change to the horizontal change ("rise over run") between two distinct points on the line, giving the same number for any choice of ...
Using this form, vertical lines correspond to equations with b = 0. One can further suppose either c = 1 or c = 0, by dividing everything by c if it is not zero. There are many variant ways to write the equation of a line which can all be converted from one to another by algebraic manipulation. The above form is sometimes called the standard form.
Three catenaries through the same two points, depending on the horizontal force T H. In general the parameter a is the position of the axis. The equation can be determined in this case as follows: [56] Relabel if necessary so that P 1 is to the left of P 2 and let H be the horizontal and v be the vertical distance from P 1 to P 2.
The x and y coordinates of the point of intersection of two non-vertical lines can easily be found using the following substitutions and rearrangements. Suppose that two lines have the equations y = ax + c and y = bx + d where a and b are the slopes (gradients) of the lines and where c and d are the y-intercepts of the lines.
The equation defining a plane curve expressed in polar coordinates is known as a polar equation. In many cases, such an equation can simply be specified by defining r as a function of φ. The resulting curve then consists of points of the form (r(φ), φ) and can be regarded as the graph of the polar function r.