The slope-intercept form of a linear equation is a simple way to show how two things are related.

You can write it like this:

$y = mx + b$

Here’s what each part means:

• $y$ is the output (what we get)
• $m$ is the slope, which shows how steep the line is
• $x$ is the input (what we put in)
• $b$ is the y-intercept, where the line meets the y-axis

Example

Let’s look at the equation:

$y = 2x + 3$

• The slope $m$ is 2. This means that for each step to the right on the x-axis, the line goes up 2 steps.
• The y-intercept $b$ is 3, so the line crosses the y-axis at the point (0, 3).

Using this form makes it simple to draw linear equations and see how they work!