what is the y-intercept of. the line passing through the point (5,-6) with a slope of - 1/7?

-47/7
47/7
-37/7
37/7

1 answer

To find the y-intercept of the line passing through the point \((5, -6)\) with a slope of \(-\frac{1}{7}\), we can use the point-slope form of the equation of a line, which is given by:

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

where \((x_1, y_1)\) is a point on the line and \(m\) is the slope.

Substituting the point \((5, -6)\) and the slope \(-\frac{1}{7}\) into the equation:

\[ y - (-6) = -\frac{1}{7}(x - 5) \]

This simplifies to:

\[ y + 6 = -\frac{1}{7}(x - 5) \]

To isolate \(y\), we can distribute the slope on the right side:

\[ y + 6 = -\frac{1}{7}x + \frac{5}{7} \]

Now, subtract 6 from both sides to solve for \(y\):

\[ y = -\frac{1}{7}x + \frac{5}{7} - 6 \]

We need to express \(-6\) with a denominator of 7, so:

\(-6 = -\frac{42}{7}\)

Thus:

\[ y = -\frac{1}{7}x + \frac{5}{7} - \frac{42}{7} \]

Combine the constants:

\[ y = -\frac{1}{7}x - \frac{37}{7} \]

From the equation \(y = -\frac{1}{7}x - \frac{37}{7}\), we can see that the y-intercept (the value of \(y\) when \(x = 0\)) is:

\[ -\frac{37}{7} \]

Thus, the y-intercept of the line is \(-\frac{37}{7}\).

So the correct answer from the options given is:

-37/7.