This week I learned how to change an equation from point slope form to general form. Point slope form is useful because it tells us the slope, along with the first x and y coordinates. General form is something that we use to make an equation look nicer, but it doesn’t really give us any useful information that we can use.

Example of what point slope form can look like: 4/3(x-2)=y-3  -> The -2 is the x coordinate and the -3 is the y coordinate. We know that they were originally both positive because if they were negative we would change the negative sign to a positive sign, since two negatives make a positive. The 4/3 is the slope, and we know that it is increasing because it’s positive.

An example of what general form can look like: 2x+5y-15=0  -> When we use general form the leading coefficient always has to be positive and an integer. We need to make the x and the y go onto one side of the equal sign and have the x be the leading coefficient. It also needs to equal 0.

To change an equation from point slope form to general form we would have to use some algebraic skills to make everything go onto one side.

Examples: