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 = 3x + 2 are \((−\frac{2}{3}, 0)\) and \((0, 2)\).
The x-intercept of this line is x = \(−\frac{2}{3}\) 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.