A line has equation . What is its -intercept and what is its -intercept?
A line has equation , where . What is its -intercept? Express your answer in terms of .
A triangle is formed by the positive -axis, the negative -axis, and the line with equation , where . The area of this triangle is 6. What is the value of ?
A triangle is formed by the positive -axis, the line with equation , and the line with equation . Determine all values of for which the area of the triangle is .
, 2018
Solution
We determine the -intercept by letting in the equation and solving for .
Thus, and so or .
The -intercept of the line with equation is 3.
We determine the -intercept by letting in the equation and solving for .
Thus, and so .
The -intercept of the line with equation is .
Letting , we get or and so , where .
The line with equation has -intercept ().
From part (b), the line with equation has -intercept .
Since , then and so the line intersects the positive -axis.
The -intercept of the line with equation is .
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The triangle formed by the line with equation (), the positive -axis, and the negative -axis, has area (the -intercept is , and so the triangle has height ).
Since the area of this triangle is 6, then or and so .
The -intercept of the line with equation is determined by letting and solving for .
Thus, or and since , then or .
The -intercept of this line is ().
The -intercept of the line with equation is .
Similarly, the -intercept of the line with equation is given by or and since , then .
The -intercept of this line is ().
The -intercept of the line with equation is .
Thus, both lines have the same -intercept.
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To determine the area of the triangle formed by the positive -axis, the line with equation , and the line with equation (), we may let the length of the base be the distance between the -intercepts or .
Then the height of this triangle is the perpendicular distance from the -axis to the -intercept, or (the -intercept is , and so the triangle has height , a positive number).
Therefore, the triangle has area .
The area of this triangle is and so or and so .
(Note that .)
The only value of for which the triangle has area is .