sat suite question viewer
In the equation above, a and b are constants and . Which of the following could represent the graph of the equation in the xy-plane?
Explanation
Choice C is correct. The given equation can be rewritten in slope-intercept form,
, where m represents the slope of the line represented by the equation, and k represents the y-coordinate of the y-intercept of the line. Subtracting ax from both sides of the equation yields
, and dividing both sides of this equation by b yields
, or
. With the equation now in slope-intercept form, it shows that
, which means the y-coordinate of the y-intercept is 1. It’s given that a and b are both greater than 0 (positive) and that
. Since
, the slope of the line must be a value between
and 0. Choice C is the only graph of a line that has a y-value of the y-intercept that is 1 and a slope that is between
and 0.
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because the slopes of the lines in these graphs aren’t between and 0.