write an equation of the line

(-2,3) & (0,-7)

1 answer

To find the equation of the line that passes through the points \((-2, 3)\) and \((0, -7)\), we first need to determine the slope (m) of the line using the formula:

\[ m = \frac{y_2 - y_1}{x_2 - x_1} \]

Let \((x_1, y_1) = (-2, 3)\) and \((x_2, y_2) = (0, -7)\):

\[ m = \frac{-7 - 3}{0 - (-2)} = \frac{-10}{2} = -5 \]

Now that we have the slope \(m = -5\), we can use the point-slope form of the equation of a line, which is:

\[ y - y_1 = m(x - x_1) \]

Using the point \((0, -7)\) (you could also use \((-2, 3)\)), we have:

\[ y - (-7) = -5(x - 0) \]

This simplifies to:

\[ y + 7 = -5x \]

Now, we can rearrange this into slope-intercept form \(y = mx + b\):

\[ y = -5x - 7 \]

Thus, the equation of the line that passes through the points \((-2, 3)\) and \((0, -7)\) is:

\[ y = -5x - 7 \]