Quick math question before my final, HELP!

[Nocturnal]

The equation xy = 6 is not a linear equation.

True or False.

My answer sheet says it's TRUE, but how would I go about figuring this out?

Would I a) choose three points of the x and y axis and plot them to see if they work out?

b) solve for one of the variables?

c) hELP!

 

[minendo]

y=6/x

 

[notfred]

Divide both sides by x

xy/x = 6/x

y = 6/x

note that 6/x is not a straight line (it's not even defined at 0)

 

[Spac3d]

Originally posted by: minendo
y=6/x

 

[Haircut]

A linear equation can be written in the form y = mx+c

The equation you have can be rewritten as y = 6 * (x^-1) thus it is not linear.

 

[xirtam]

yeah, divide by the variables, you get 6/x... so obviously it's going to be discontinuous at y=0, so you know it can't be linear since it's got a discontinuity.

 

[Muse]

Get or make a piece of graph paper and plot it. You can do it in 10 minutes. It will be totally obvious to you if it's linear or not. Does the graph look like a line?
9
8
7
6 .
5
4
3 .
2 .
1 .
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

<---- x ---->

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Muse
Get or make a piece of graph paper and plot it. You can do it in 10 minutes. It will be totally obvious to you if it's linear or not. Does the graph look like a line?
9
8
7
6 .
5
4
3 .
2 .
1 .
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

<---- x ---->

Note!! This looks OK in preview, but not as a post. To see the graph, reply to it, quoting and you can see that the curve is asymptotic to the x and y axes.

 

[DrPizza]

God, I love this forum... I said "asymptotically" today and no one knew what I was talking about. 2 hours later, here I am, and I run into it.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
God, I love this forum... I said "asymptotically" today and no one knew what I was talking about. 2 hours later, here I am, and I run into it.

I'm curious as to what type of conversation that word came up in outside of a math classroom.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: Tyler

Originally posted by: DrPizza
God, I love this forum... I said "asymptotically" today and no one knew what I was talking about. 2 hours later, here I am, and I run into it.

I'm curious as to what type of conversation that word came up in outside of a math classroom.

He got closer and closer to a girl, but never actually got her? 😛