# If equations of form “3x+y=5” are linear equations, shouldn't equations of form “3x-5=0” be considered “point equations”?

I have a question regarding the terminology of the types of equations.

I understand that "Linear equations" are named like that because of you plot the solution pairs of (x,y), you will get a line on the Cartesian coordinate plan.

However I do not understand why equations with only one variable are still called linear equations. The solution to that type of equations do not form a line on the graph. Why are they still called "linear equations"?

• $ax+by+c=0$ with at least one of $a,b \ne 0$ describes a line in the 2D plane. If $b=0$ the line is vertical, yet still a line. – dxiv Jul 23 '17 at 4:34
• The definition of a linear equation does not refer to lines in a plane. A line in a plane results from graphing the special case of a linear equation in two variables. – N. F. Taussig Jul 23 '17 at 8:38
• @N.F.Taussig Thanks, so linear equations can have as many variables as they want, but they should be variables to the power of 1 and it should not have variables multiplied. Is it correct? – yoyo_fun Jul 23 '17 at 9:06
• That is correct. – N. F. Taussig Jul 23 '17 at 9:07

If you graph $3x-5=0$ on the $xy-$plane, you get the line that contains the points $(5/3,y)$ - $y$ can be any value. It is a vertical line.
If you graph $3x-5=0$ on the $x-$line (so the number line with $x$ as a variable), then it just forms the single point $(5/3)$.
• @yoyo_fun Sure, and they would be if you were talking about the equation in space, not on a plane. $3x+y=5$ is a linear equation on the plane, a planar equation in space, etc. It all depends on what the reference space is (for example, as I said, the equation $3x-5=0$ makes sense in a linear reference space - the number line - and there it is just a "point equation"). – Carl Schildkraut Jul 23 '17 at 4:32
• @yoyo_fun Any equation that looks like $ax+by+cz=d$ for some reals $a,b,c,d$ (some of them may be zero, but $a,b,c$ may not all be $0$ - otherwise it is called "degenerate") will be a plane in three-dimensional space. – Carl Schildkraut Jul 23 '17 at 4:37
In general, a linear equation is of the form $$c_1x_1+c_2x_2+...+c_nx_n=b,$$ where $c_i\neq0$ for all $i$ and $b$ is a constant. The solution is a $(n-1)$-dimensional hyperplane in $n$-dimensional space.