What am I finding?????

Question

What am I supposed to find when solving linear equations? Why are there always two sets of equations to solve?

Answer 1

whoa.......whoaaaaaaa!!!!!

Not before my first cup of tea, okay?

d**n.........pop quiz.........and I didn't study.............

Answer 2

If you could give an example?

Linear problems could be used to solve anything from slope to y-intercepts to x-intercepts.

or do you mean something else?

Answer 3

You are trying to find the point of intersection. Does that help at all? If not, here's an example:

y=x+2

y=-2x+8

There are several ways to solve this. One way is to set the two equations equal to each other to find x. You can do this because they both equal y, and y will always equal itself.

x+2=-2x+8

Add 2x to both sides, as well as subtract 2 from both sides to get:

3x=6

Divide both sides by 3, and you get: x=2

Then, plug the x back into one of the equations to get the y value.

y=x+2

y=(2)+2

y=4

The point of intersection should be (2,4). Plug these values in for x and y in the other equation to check your work.

y=-2x+8

4=-2(2)+8

4=-4+8

4=4

The solution checks, so your answer would be (2,4)