DEFINITION.

Since a horizontal line never moves up or down, its y-coordinates never change.
That means the "change in y-coordinates" is 0. When we divide by the change in x-
coordinates to find slope, our final answer will be 0. Vertical lines go straight up
and down.

ILLUSTRATE/SOLVE.
Horizontal Lines

Horizontal lines have a slope of 0 . Thus, in the slope-intercept

equation y = mx + b , m = 0 . The equation becomes y = b , where b is the y -
coordinate of the y -intercept.

Example 1: Write an equation for the following line:

 Graph of a Line
Since y always takes the value -1 , an equation for the line is y = - 1 .

Example 2: Write an equation for the horizontal line that passes through (6, 2) .

Since the line is horizontal, y is constant--that is, y always takes the same value.
Since y takes a value of 2 at the point (6, 2) , y always takes the value 2 . Thus, the
equation is y = 2 .
Vertical Lines

Similarly, in the graph of a vertical line, x only takes one value. Thus, the equation
for a vertical line is x = a , where a is the value that xtakes.

Example 3: Write an equation for the following line:

 Graph of a Line

Since x always takes the value 2 = , the equation for the line is x = .

Example 4: Write an equation for the vertical line that passes through(6, 2) .

Since the line is vertical, x is constant--that is, x always takes the same value.
Since x takes a value of 6 at the point (6, 2) , x always takes the value 6 . Thus, the
equation is x = 6 .

Incidentally, the lines y = 2 and x = 6 are perpendicular to each other. In fact, all
horizontal lines y = b are perpendicular to all vertical lines x = a . The usual
relationship between the slopes of perpendicular lines does not work here, as we
might expect, because the slope of a horizontal line is 0 which has no reciprocal.

5 EXAMPLES
Graph x = -3.

Hmmthere's no y variable in sight, so no matter what value we "plug in" for y,

the x-value will always be -3.

This makes it a vertical line passing through the x-axis at x = -3.

Question: Find the equation of the horizontal line, where the required horizontal
line is having the y intercept value (0, 1).
Solution:

Given y - intercept point of the horizontal line is (0, 1)

We know the equation of the horizontal line is y = k.

k is the y - intersection point of the given line.

So, the equation of the horizontal line is y = 1

Question: Find the equation of the following horizontal line, where the required
horizontal line is having the y intercept value (0, 3).

Solution:

The y - intercept point of the given horizontal line is (0, 3)

The general form of the horizontal line is y = k

k is the y - intersection point of the given line.

So, the equation of the horizontal line is y = 3

Question: Draw the vertical line for the equations x - 3 = 0 and x + 4 = 0 in the
graph and draw line for the points (1, 3) and (1, -2).

Solution:

Graph of the equations x - 3 = 0, x + 4 = 0 and line passes through points (1, 3) and
(1, -2) are parallel to y-axis.
5 TEST QUESTIONS

Problem : Write an equation for the vertical line that passes through(2, 4) .
x=2

Problem : Write an equation for the graph of the following line:

y=-4

Problem : Write an equation for the horizontal line that passes through (- 12, 18) .
y = 18
Problem : Write an equation for the graph of the following line:

x=1
Problem : Match each equation with its corresponding graph.

a) y = 3

b) y = 3x

c) x = 3

d) x = 3y

a) D

b) A

c) C

d) B