In a
Cartesian plane, the coordinates of the intersections of a curve with the axes.
If a curve intersects with the
x-axis at the point (
a, 0) and the
y-axis at the point (0,
b),
a is the
x-intercept and
b is the
y-intercept.
Example
In this Cartesian plane, the
x- and
y-intercepts of the line represented in orange, for which the equation is
y = 3
x + 2 are [latex](−\frac{2}{3}, 0)[/latex] and [latex](0, 2)[/latex].
The
x-intercept of this line is
x = [latex]−\frac{2}{3}[/latex] and the
y-intercept is
y = 2.
Educational Note
Note that the
x- and
y-intercepts of the graph of a function are
ordered pairs of numbers, while the
x- and
y-intercepts are numbers.
