Slope and y-interceptThe y-intercept
Name: Date:
Write the y-intercept of each line.
1y = −7x + 36b =
2y = 10x + 2b =
3y = −3x − 24b =
4y = −9x − 6b =
5y = −12xb =
6y = 7x − 13b =
Y-intercept from an equation worksheets
The y-intercept is where a line starts — what is left in y = mx + b when x is 0. These free printable worksheets ask for it straight from the equation.
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Y-intercept from an equation
The answer key prints on a separate page.
What's on this sheet
In y = 3x + 5 the intercept is 5, the number standing on its own, and it is where the line already sits before x has moved at all. Like the slope, it is a reading rather than a calculation, and the sheets are built around the versions a child gets wrong instead of the plain ones.
Why this sheet works
y = 3x has no constant, so the intercept is 0 — the line passes through the origin, which is not "no intercept". y = 3 − 4x puts the intercept first, and it is 3, not −4. y = 7 is a flat line whose every point is at 7, intercept and all. This is the intercept-only half of the slope-and-intercept topic, kept apart so each number gets read for what it means rather than where it happens to sit.
How this one works
One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.
y = −7x + 36
y = −7x + 36
y = −7x + 36
b=36
- A line written this way carries two facts: how much y moves for each step of x, and where it already is when x is 0. The y-intercept is the second.
- Put x = 0 and the x term disappears, whatever it was — so what is left is the y-intercept. Here that is 36. So b = 36.