Standard form of the equation of a line

The equation of straight line can be written in different forms, one of which is the standard form. The standard form has a syntax, or a look, as follows:

Ax + By = C

In the above syntax, A, B and C are to be numbers, that is, when you write the equation of a straight line, there will be positive or negative numbers (or zero) in place of A, B and C. Note that A should not be negative in the above form, and if it is negative, the equation is multiplied by -1.


Examples of some equations in standard form:

• 3x - y = -2

• x + y = 1

Note that the numbers A, B and C in the standard form are to be written in the simplest ratio to each other. For example, the second equation above is same as 2x + 2y = 2, but it is correctly written as x + y = 1.