Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) Basic Math Placement Practice Test

How should you graph the x-intercept (x,0)?

1. As (0,y)

2. As (x,y)

3. As (x,0)

4. As (y,0)

The correct answer is: As (x,0)

The x-intercept of a graph is the point where the graph crosses the x-axis. At this point, the y-coordinate is always zero, meaning that any point represented as an x-intercept can be expressed in the form (x, 0), where 'x' is the value of the x-coordinate. This representation highlights that for any x-intercept, the corresponding y-value is zero, which is consistent with the definition of an x-intercept. By using (x, 0), you clearly indicate that you are locating a point on the x-axis, reaffirming that y is zero at this point. This understanding stems from the basic principle of plotting points on a Cartesian coordinate system, where the first element in the ordered pair (x, y) denotes the horizontal position (x-position) and the second element indicates the vertical position (y-position). Since we're specifically interested in identifying points on the x-axis, the appropriate format to use is (x, 0).