Linear Relations
A linear equation looks like any other equation. It is made up of two expressions set equal to each other.
A linear equation in two variables describes a relationship in which the value of one of the variable depends on the value of the other variable. In a linear equation in x and y, x is called x is the independent variable and y depends on it. We call y the dependent variable. If the variables have other names, yet do have a dependent relationship, the independent variable is plotted along the horizontal axis. Most linear equations are functions (that is, for every value of x, there is only one corresponding value of y). When you assign a value to the independent variable, x, you can compute the value of the dependent variable, y. You can then plot the points named by each (x,y) pair on a coordinate grid.