Algebra ( Periods 1 & 4)

Chapter 4-3 Point Slope Form 

There is another way to solve for a line other than using slope-intercept form  Although most people use the slope- intercept form for all cases, the POINT-SLOPE Form  is actually easier—everything is built into the format!  You do not need to “put it altogether” at the end!

MY FAVORITE!!

It gives you exactly a point and the slope—just by looking at it!

You do not need to do anything BUT graph!!

Point- Slope Form of a line:

y-y₁ = m ( x- x₁)

Example: ( 3, 1) is a point on the line and m = 2

y – 1 = 2( x – 3)

What you have now is point-slope form of the line!

You can graph easily starting at (3, 1) and going up 2 and to the right 1

You can also simplify this and get the slope- intercept form of the line:

y - 1 = 2x – 6

y = 2x – 5

If you are trying to link the Slope-Intercept form to the Point-Slope form of the line:  The point slope version eliminates one step from using the slope intercept form

In the slope intercept form, you plug in the point and the slope and solve for b—
AND THEN rewrite the equation using the intercept that you found.

In point slope form, once you plug in the point and slope, you just simplify and the equation is already done!

IF you don’t have the slope, you will need to compute it with the formula—just like you did with Slope Intercept FORM

The biggest difference is that any point is plugged into this form, while  the Slope- Intercept Form focuses on the ONE specific point on the y axis