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.
If they get stuck
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
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.