Can somebody please tell me what a linear equation is?

Question

Can somebody please tell me what a linear equation is?

Answer 1

A linear equation would have two variables that are related to each other in a simple way (multiplication, addition or subtraction, but NOT by powers, logs, sine etc).  Examples would be

y = x+ 5

y = 3x + 5

y = 3x -8

3y = 2x + 4

Examples of non-linear equations would include

y = x^2

y = 3*log x + 5

y = 2* sin(x)

Answer 2

"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."

Answer 3

In simplest terms, a Linear Equation is a mathematical equation, that when graphed, will produce a line.  The amount of two items (two variables) are always related to each other by the same ratio (factor), no matter what.  The factor doesn't change depending on how many of one or the other thing (variable) is present.  the ratio is called the slope.

The simplest linear equations have a direct ratio, like john has twice as many apples as I do.  Sometimes you need to have a secondary value, a constant, like, John has four more than twice as many apples as I do,

No matter what, john always has twice as many apples (plus that other number, which is zero in the simplest case).

A linear equation can always be described by some form of Y=mX+b.