What is the standard form of a slope-intercept equation of a line with slope m and y-intercept b?

What is the standard form of a slope-intercept equation of a line with slope m and y-intercept b?

• A. y = mx + b
• B. x = my + b
• C. y = m + xb
• D. y = b - mx

Answer: (A)

Expressing a line with slope m and y-intercept b in slope-intercept form means solving for y in terms of x. The correct form is y = m x + b because the slope m is the coefficient of x, showing how steeply y changes with x, and b is the value where the line crosses the y-axis (the y-intercept) when x is zero. The other forms don’t match this structure: x = m y + b solves for x in terms of y, not y in terms of x; y = m + x b would imply the slope is b and the intercept is m; y = b − m x would give a negative slope, not m.

Expressing a line with slope m and y-intercept b in slope-intercept form means solving for y in terms of x. The correct form is y = m x + b because the slope m is the coefficient of x, showing how steeply y changes with x, and b is the value where the line crosses the y-axis (the y-intercept) when x is zero.

The other forms don’t match this structure: x = m y + b solves for x in terms of y, not y in terms of x; y = m + x b would imply the slope is b and the intercept is m; y = b − m x would give a negative slope, not m.