Page 1 of 15

Module: Construction Mathematics 2 Lecture 6

GRAPHS
A graph that shows information that is connected in some way (such as change over time).

Plotting Graphs
Find solution sets to the equation.
Plot on a graph
Draw the curve or line.

Cartesian Coordinates
Cartesian coordinates can be used to pinpoint where you are on a map or graph.

Using Cartesian Coordinates you mark a point on a graph by how far along and how far up it is:

The point (12,5) is 12 units along, and 5 units up.
X and Y Axis

The left-right (horizontal) direction is commonly called X.

The up-down (vertical) direction is commonly called Y.
Page 2 of 15


Put them together on a graph ...
... and you are ready to go
Where they cross over is the "0" point,
you measure everything from there.
The X Axis runs horizontally through zero
The Y Axis runs vertically through zero
Axis: The reference line from which distances are measured.
The plural of Axis is Axes, and is pronounced ax-eez

Example:

Point (6,4) is
6 units across (in the x direction), and
4 units up (in the y direction)

So (6,4) means:
Go along 6 and then go up 4 then "plot the dot".

Writing Coordinates
The coordinates are always written in a certain order:
the horizontal distance first,
then the vertical distance.
This is called an "ordered pair" (a pair of numbers in a special order)
And usually the numbers are separated by a comma, and parentheses are put around the whole thing
like this:
(3,2)
Page 3 of 15

Example: (3,2) means 3 units to the right, and 2 units up
Example: (0,5) means 0 units to the right, and 5 units up.

The Origin
The point (0,0) is given the special name "The Origin", and is sometimes given the letter "O".

"Cartesian" ... ?
They are called Cartesian because the idea was developed by the mathematician and
philosopher Rene Descartes who was also known as Cartesius.
He is also famous for saying "I think, therefore I am".

What About Negative Values of X and Y?
Negative: start at zero and head in the opposite direction:
Negative x goes to the left
Negative y goes down

So, for a negative number:
go backwards for x
go down for y

For example (-6,4) means:
go back along the x axis 6 then go up 4.

And (-6,-4) means:
go back along the x axis 6 then go down 4.


Four Quadrants
When we include negative values, the x and y axes divide
the space up into 4 pieces:
Quadrants I, II, III and IV
(They are numbered in a counterclockwise direction)

In Quadrant I both x and y are positive, but ...
in Quadrant II x is negative (y is still positive),
Page 4 of 15

in Quadrant III both x and y are negative, and
in Quadrant IV x is positive again, while y is negative.

Plotting Graphs
Find solutions to the equation.
Plot on a graph
Draw the curve or line.

Example
If y= 2x + 1, is a straight line.
When x = 0, y = 1.
Therefore we say that (0,1) is a solution to the equation.

Question
y = x + 3. draw the graph.
Answer
Choose suitable possible values of x. Six values are usually enough.
With the equation y = x + 3, we have to add 3 to each x value to get the the value of y.
When x = -3
y = -3 + 3 = 0
When x = -2,
y = -2 + 3 = 1
When x = 0
y = 0 + 3 = 3
When x = 3
y = 3 + 3 = 6
Once the values of y have been worked out, the table looks like this:

x -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
y= x +3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
The graph is plotted on the next page.


3 Dimensions
Cartesian coordinates can be used for locating points in 3 dimensions as in this example:
Page 5 of 15


Here the point (2, 4, 5) is shown in
three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates.

Page 6 of 15

Equation of a Line from 2 Points


I will be using Cartesian Coordinates, where you mark a
point on a graph by how far along and how far up it is.
Example: The point (12,5) is
12 units along, and 5 units up.

The equation of a straight line is usually written this way:
y = mx + c
What does it stand for?



Slope (or Gradient) Y Intercept

y = how far up
x = how far along
m = Slope or Gradient (how steep the line is)
b = the Y Intercept (where the line crosses the Y axis)
Page 7 of 15

Finding Slope (or Gradient) from 2 Points


What is the slope (or gradient) of this line?
We know two points:
point "A" is (6,4) (x is 6 when y is 4)
point "B" is (2,3) (x is 2 when y is 3).

The formula is:
Slope m
=
change
in y

=

y
A
- y
B


change
in x
x
A
- x
B





So what we do is
subtract the Y values,
subtract the X values
then divide
m =
change in y

change in x
=
4-3

6-2
=
1

4
= 0.25
It doesn't matter which point comes first, it still works out the same. Try
swapping the points:
m =
change in y

=
3-4

=
-1

= 0.25
Page 8 of 15

change in x
2-6 -4

Finding an Equation from 2 Points
Now you know how to find the slope, let us look at finding a whole equation.


What is the equation of this
line?

The easiest method is to start with the "point-slope" formula:
y - y1 = m(x - x1)
We can choose any point on the line as being point "1", so let us just use point (2,3):
y - 3 = m(x - 2)
Use the formula from above for the slope "m":
Slope m =
change in y

change in x

=
4-3

6-2
=
1

4
And we have:
y - 3 = (1/4)(x - 2)
That is an acceptable answer, but we could simplify it further:
y - 3 = x/4 - 2/4
y = x/4 - + 3
Page 9 of 15

y = x/4 + 5/2
Which is now in the "Slope-Intercept (y = mx + c)" form.
Check It!
Let us confirm by testing with the second point (6,4):
y = x/4 + 5/2 = 6/4 + 2.5 = 1.5 + 2.5 = 4
Yes, when x=6 then y=4, so it works!
Another Example


What is the equation of this
line?

Start with the "point-slope" formula:
y - y1 = m(x - x1)
x1 = 1
y1 = 6
m = (2-6)/(3-1) = -4/2 = -2
y - 6 = -2(x - 1)
And we can have it in "Slope-Intercept (y = mx + b)" form:
y - 6 = -2x + 2
y = -2x + 8
The Big Exception Vertical lines
The previous method works nicely except for one particular case: a vertical line:
Page 10 of 15


In that case the gradient is undefined (because you
cannot divide by 0):


m =
y
A
- y
B


x
A
- x
B

=
4 -
1

2 -
2
=
3

0
= undefined
But there is still a way of writing the equation ... use "x =" instead of "y=", like this:
x = 2

Other Forms
We have been looking at the "slope-intercept" form. The equation of a straight line can be written
in many other ways.
Another popular form is the Point-Slope Eq Point-Slope Equation of a Line
The "point-slope" form of the equation of a straight line is:
y - y1 = m(x - x1)
Using this formula, If you know:
one point on the line
and the slope of the line,
you can find other points on the line.
Page 11 of 15

Finding Intercepts From an Equation
X Intercept: where the graph of an equation crosses the x-axis
Y Intercept: where the graph of an equation crosses the y-axis

To find the intercepts:
When you want the x intercepts (x,0):
Set y=0 then solve for x
When you want the y intercepts (0,y):
Set x=0 then solve for y

Example: Find the intercepts of y = x
2
- 4
x intercept: set y=0
0 = x
2
- 4
x
2
= 4
x = 2 or -2
The points are (2,0) and (-2,0)
y intercept: set x=0
y = 0
2
- 4
y = -4
The point is (0,-4)


Page 12 of 15

And here is the graph of x
2
- 4 to confirm what we found:


Example: Find the intercepts of x
2
- 5x + y
2
+ 3y = 0
x intercept: set y=0
x
2
- 5x + 0

+ 0 = 0
x(x-5) = 0
x = 0 and 5
The points are (0,0) and (5,0)
y intercept: set x=0
0

- 0 + y
2
+ 3y = 0
y(y+3) = 0
x = 0 or -3
The points are (0,0) and (0,-3)
So there are a total of 3 points:
(0,0), (5,0) and (0, -3)
And here is the graph ... it's a circle!
Page 13 of 15

Common Graphs


Page 14 of 15






Page 15 of 15

Roots
The "roots" are the solutions to the equation.
When the curve crosses the x-axis (y=0) you will have:
two solutions
or ONE solution (if it just touches)
But when the curve does not cross the line there are still solutions, however:
the two solutions include Imaginary Numbers .