Find the slope between the points (5,8) and (-3,6)

Question

Please help

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for taking the time to post your question!

The equation that you want to use to compute slope here is

m = (y2 – y1) / (x2 – x1) … for this set of values that becomes

m = (6 - 8) / (-3 – 5) = -2/ -8 = 1/4

I hope that helps you get moving in a better direction on this type of question! Feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions beyond that :)

Answer 2

You have probably seen the equation for the slope of a line a few times, which is

 

m = (y₂ - y₁) / (x₂ - x₁)

 

This seems pretty useless. You are probably asking yourself, "which is 1 and which is 2? I just don't get it!"

 

The way to think about this is to imagine a number line for the x-axis and another number line that is vertical (straight up and down) here the 0 marks are at the same point.

 

X₂ is farther to the right, and Y₂ is higher up. So X₁ and Y₁ are the smaller numbers.

 

The other confusion that you may have is how the (a,b) notation works. The first number in the parenthesis is the X value, and the second is the Y value.

 

Now let's plug this information into the equation for the slope.

 

(8 - 6) / [ 5 - (-3) ]

 

2 / (5 + 3)

 

2/8

 

1/4

 

We have found the slope which is 1/4 or 0.25

 

I hope this helps you figure out what is going on and why we did what we did!