16Hit1600
AlgebraMediumRatio of a line's intercepts

Algebra practice question

In the xy-plane, the line y = −3x + 12 has x-intercept a and y-intercept b. What is the value of b/a?

Answer: 3

y-intercept b = 12. x-intercept: 0 = −3a + 12, a = 4. So b/a = 3.

Common wrong answers

If you answered 16
16 is a + b.
If you answered 1/3
1/3 is a/b.
If you answered -3
−3 is the slope; b/a is its negative.

More Algebra questions

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