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
- Medium
A system: 2x + y = 11 and x − y = 1. What is the value of x + y? - Medium
Which of the following describes all solutions to 4x − 9 ≤ 2x + 5? - Medium
A phone's battery percentage is modeled by P = 100 − 8t, where t is the number of hours since it was unplugged… - Medium
If y = 2x − 1 and 3x + y = 14, what is the value of x? - Medium
If |2x − 3| = 7, what is the sum of all possible values of x? - Medium
Line k has equation y = (2/3)x + 1. Which equation represents a line perpendicular to line k?
Not affiliated with the College Board. SAT is a trademark of the College Board.