Difference between revisions of "Linear equation"
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Revision as of 20:20, 4 December 2008
In elementary algebra, linear equations are algebraic equations in which both sides of the equation are polynomials or monomials of the first degree - i.e. each term does not have any variables to a power other than one.
Contents
Form and Connection to Analytic Geometry
In general, a linear equation with 
variables can be written in the form 
, where 
is a series of constants, 
is a series of variables, and 
is a constant.
For the particular case 
, the resulting equation can be graphed as a point on the number line, and for the case 
(resulting in a linear function), it can be graphed as a line on the Cartesian plane, hence the term "linear" equation. This can extended to a general Cartesian n-space, in which the linear equation with the corresponding number of variables can be graphed as an n-1-space - this concept is the idea behind analytic geometry as envisioned by Fermat and Descartes.
