text: need help with this? write a rule of the function represented by each? x  y 0  1 1 -8 2-17 3 -26  can anyone help, but show me how to do this question...please..;) when i look at problems like these, i use the two-point formula. since y is decreasing by a constant amount each time, it's ok to use the two-point formula. basically, you choose two points...i'll choose (0,1) and (1,-8). then, you calculate the slope, which is (y2-y1) / (x2-x1). it doesn't really matter which y or x comes first as long as they are correspondent with each other. so, the slope would be (-8-1) / (1-0), which is -9/1, which is -9. then, plug it back into the equation y = mx + b. so, i'll use the point (0,1). 1 = -9(0) + b. 1 = 0 + b. b = 1. as a result, the function is...y = -9x + 1