SAT Preparation Materials

SAT Math
23.02.2021
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Linear functions
Before speaking about functions and their properties let us consider the
place where these functions will be drawn. This place is called coordinate plane.
As you already know, the coordinate plane is defined by two directions x-axis and
y-axis. The point at which these two lines intersect at the right angle is called the
origin. Origin divides the coordinate plane into 4 quadrants:

These notations of quadrants are absolute, you cannot number them as you want!
All the points in that coordinate plain thus have two characteristics – x-
coordinate and y-coordinate, that are taken with respect to the origin. For example,
the point in Quadrant I has x-coordinate equal 2 and y-coordinate equal 1.
Coordinates of a point are written as (2, 1), with x-coordinate going first and
y-coordinate coming second.
If a variable 𝑦 depends on a variable 𝑥 in such a way that each value of 𝑥
determines exactly one value of 𝑦, then we say that y is a function of x. Variable 𝑦
is called dependent variable, while 𝑥 is called independent variable or argument.
Such function is usually written as 𝑦 = 𝑓(𝑥), where 𝑓 represents the “relationship”
between 𝑥 and 𝑦, which is a formula in terms of 𝑥. All the values that 𝑥 can equal
are called domain of a function, and all the values 𝑦 can equal to are called range
of a function.
Please pay attention to the phrase “each value of 𝑥 determines exactly one
value of 𝑦”, which means that there can be no such functions that will give two
values of 𝑦 when given only one value 𝑥. Yet, two different values of 𝑥 can give
the same value of 𝑦. You can sometimes be asked to determine whether the given
graph is a function. To determine that you should use that exact property of a
function. The test to determine whether the graph is a function or not is called
vertical line test. The case is that if you can draw at least one vertical line that
intersects the graph in more than one place, this graph is not a function.

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(taken from the Acing the New SAT Math book)

The case is that a vertical line represents exactly one value of 𝑥. If the line
intersects the graph at 2 points, this means that there are two values of 𝑦 for only
one value of 𝑥.
The main case in understanding how a function works is that students think
that an argument (𝑥) can only be a number. Yet, an argument only represents the
input value we put in a function to give an output. This value can equal anything
that is inside the domain of the function, even the value of another function. Let us
imagine the following:
𝑓 (𝑥 ) = 3𝑥 2 + 2𝑥 + 1
We can easily find 𝑓 (1) = 3 ∗ 1 + 2 ∗ 1 + 1 = 6. But what should we do if we are
asked to find 𝑓(2𝑥 + 1)? The answer is that we should plug 2𝑥 + 1 in all place
where 𝑥 stands.
𝑓 (2𝑥 + 1) = 3(2𝑥 + 1)2 + 2(2𝑥 + 1) + 1 = 3(4𝑥 2 + 4𝑥 + 1) + 4𝑥 + 2 + 1 =
= 12𝑥 2 + 12𝑥 + 3 + 4𝑥 + 2 + 1 = 12𝑥 2 + 16𝑥 + 6.
In that case, argument 2𝑥 + 1 is a function itself, 𝑔(𝑥 ) = 2𝑥 + 1 and 𝑓 (2𝑥 + 1) =
= 𝑓(𝑔(𝑥 )). This is called composition but will talk about it more a bit later. For
now, let us shift to representing the linear functions as a linear equation.

Standard form of a linear equation representing a function is written as 𝐴𝑥 +

𝐵𝑦 = 𝐶. Note that the graph of such function will always be a straight line (we will
consider parabolas, hyperbolas etc. later). This line intersects x-axis at a point
called the x-intercept and y-axis at a point called y-intercept. It is obvious that y-
coordinate of an x-intercept equals 0, and x-coordinate of an y-intercept also equals
0. To find other coordinates of that points just plug the known coordinate into the
function equation.

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Yet, the standard form of line equation is not always handy. For this reason,
there are several modified versions of the line equation that will give the needed
information at once:

(taken from https://www.onlinemathlearning.com/equation-of-a-line-types.html)

One of the key terms that define a line is a slope. Slope of a line shows how
much the y-coordinate changes with respect to the x-coordinate. Imagine a line
passing through two points with coordinates (𝑥1 , 𝑦1 ) and (𝑥2 , 𝑦2 ), it is essential to
state that point 2 lies to the right side of the point 1. The slope can be defined as
𝑦2 − 𝑦1
𝑚=
𝑥2 − 𝑥1
The sign of the and magnitude of the slope can tell us a lot:

(taken from the Acing the New SAT Math book)

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Please note that slopes of the parallel lines are equal, while the product of the
slopes of perpendicular lines equals -1:
𝑚1 = 𝑚2 – parallel
𝑚1 ∗ 𝑚2 = −1 – perpendicular

Examples:
1) What is the slope of the line given by the equation −𝑥 + 6𝑦 = −4?
In order to know the slope, we should rewrite the equation into the slope-intercept
form 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑏:
1 2 1
6𝑦 = 𝑥 − 4 → 𝑦 = 𝑥 − . Thus, the slope equals 𝑚 =
6 3 6

2) Find x- and y-intercepts of the line given by 8𝑥 + 4𝑦 = 12

In order to find x- and y-intercepts, we should rewrite the equation into the
𝑥 𝑦
intercept form + = 1:
𝑎 𝑏

8𝑥 4𝑦
8𝑥 + 4𝑦 = 12 →
+ =1
12 12
2𝑥 𝑦 𝑥 𝑦
+ =1→ + =1
3 3 3 3
2
Thus x-intercept is 𝑎 = 1.5 and y-intercept is 𝑏 = 3.

3) Find the y-intercept of the line that passes through points (1, 2) and (3, 4)
Before calculating the x-intercept we need to write down the line equation.
Please remember the new formula of the line equation through the two points:
𝑥 − 𝑥1 𝑦 − 𝑦1
=
𝑥2 − 𝑥1 𝑦2 − 𝑦1
Where (𝑥1 , 𝑦1 ) and (𝑥2 , 𝑦2 ) are coordinates of two points the line passes through.
So, the equation of the given line is:
𝑥−1 𝑦−2 𝑥−1 𝑦−2
= → = → 𝑥−1= 𝑦−2 →𝑦 = 𝑥+1
3−1 4−2 2 2
𝑦 = 𝑥 + 1 is a slope y-intercept form, so the y-intercept is 1.
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Practice Set
1. Which of the following is not a function:

2. What is the domain of the function that contains points at (3, 4), (6, 2), (7, 10)
and (11, 27)?
1
3. The function is defined by 𝑓 (𝑥 ) = 3𝑥 + 6. Find 𝑓( 𝑥 − 4).
3
1
4. If 𝑓 (𝑥 + 1) = − 𝑥 + 6, what is the value of 𝑓(−5)?
2

5. Find the slope of the line that passes through (4, 6) and (8, 10).
6. What is the value of 𝑎 if the line passes through (0, 5) and (4, 𝑎) has a slope
of 3?
7. What is the slope of the line given by the equation 3𝑥 + 4𝑦 = 5?
8. Find x- and y-intercepts of the line given by 13𝑥 + 6𝑦 = 26.
9. Find the y-intercept of the line that passes through points (3, 8) and (5, 12).
1
10. Find the equation of the line that is perpendicular to 𝑦 = 𝑥 + 5 and has an
3
y-intercept of 4.

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Practice Set Solutions

1. Answer: Z
Apply vertical line test to all the functions. Function Z fails it.

2. Answer: {𝟑, 𝟔, 𝟕, 𝟏𝟏}

Domain of the function is a set of all numbers 𝑥 can equal.

3. Answer: 𝒙 − 𝟔
1 1
𝑓 ( 𝑥 − 4) = 3 ( 𝑥 − 4) + 6 = 𝑥 − 12 + 6 = 𝑥 − 6
3 3

4. Answer: 𝟗
1
𝑓 (−5) = 𝑓 (−6 + 1) = − ∗ (−6) + 6 = 3 + 6 = 9
2

5. Answer: 𝒎 = 𝟏
𝑦2 − 𝑦1 10 − 6 4
𝑚= = = =1
𝑥2 − 𝑥1 8−4 4

6. Answer: 𝒂 = 𝟏𝟕
If the line passes through (0, 5) and (4, 𝑎) we can write its equation as:
𝑥 − 𝑥1 𝑦 − 𝑦1 𝑥−0 𝑦−5 𝑥 𝑦−5
= → = → =
𝑥2 − 𝑥1 𝑦2 − 𝑦1 4 − 0 𝑎 − 5 4 𝑎 − 5
𝑥 (𝑎 − 5) = 4(𝑦 − 5)
(𝑎 − 5)𝑥 = 4𝑦 − 20 → 4𝑦 = (𝑎 − 5)𝑥 + 20
𝑎−5
𝑦= 𝑥+5
4
It is known that slope of the line equals 3. Thus:
𝑎−5
= 3 → 𝑎 − 5 = 12 → 𝑎 = 17
4
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𝟑
7. Answer: 𝒎 = −
𝟒

In order to know the slope, we should rewrite the equation into the slope-intercept
form 𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑏:
3 5 3
4𝑦 = −3𝑥 + 5 → 𝑦 = − 𝑥 − . Thus, the slope equals 𝑚 = −
4 4 4

𝟏𝟑
8. Answer: 𝒂 = 𝟐, 𝒃 =
𝟑

In order to find x- and y-intercepts, we should rewrite the equation into the
𝑥 𝑦
intercept form + = 1:
𝑎 𝑏

13𝑥 6𝑦
13𝑥 + 6𝑦 = 26 →
+ =1
26 26
𝑥 3𝑦 𝑥 𝑦
+ =1→ + =1
2 13 2 13
3
13
Thus x-intercept is 𝑎 = 2 and y-intercept is 𝑏 =
3

9. Answer: 𝒃 = 𝟐
Equation of the given line is:
𝑥−3 𝑦−8 𝑥−3 𝑦−8
= → = → 4(𝑥 − 3) = 2(𝑦 − 8)
5 − 3 12 − 8 2 4
4𝑥 − 12 = 2𝑦 − 16
2𝑦 = 4𝑥 + 4 → 𝑦 = 2𝑥 + 2
Plug in 𝑥 = 0 to find that y-intercept equals 𝑏 = 2 ∗ 0 + 2 = 2

10. Answer: 𝒚 = −𝟑𝒙 + 𝟒

Product of the slopes of perpendicular lines equals -1. Thus slope of the second line
equals −3. y-intercept equals 4, thus the equations of this line is:
𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑏 = −3𝑥 + 4