Question

How do you use the intercepts to graph the equation `2x-4y=8`?

Answer 1

Remember what it means to find an intercept.

An x-intercept is simply where the line hits the x-axis. Think of the coordinates of an x-intercept. They will be in the form of (x,0). The y-coordinate of an x-intercept is always 0, therefore we can set y equal to 0 in the given equation to find the x-intercept.

`2x-4(0)=8`
`2x=8`
`x=4`

Giving me the x-intercept of `(4,0)`

A y-intercept is where the line hits the y-axis. Think of the coordinates of a y-intercept. It will be in the form of (0,y). The x-coordinate of a y-intercept is always 0. therefore we can set x equal to 0 in the given equation to find the y-intercept.

`2(0)-4y=8`
`-4y=8`
`y=-2`

Giving me the y-intercept of `(0,-2)`

Now you simply need to plot those two points and connect them giving you your line.
graph{0.5*x-2 [-10, 10, -5, 5]}