Find the slope of a line that is PARALLEL to the line that is connected by the points (-3, -8) and (-5, 4).

Answer 1

Hi John,

Parallel lines have the same slope. The equation of a line can be written in slope -intercept form as:

y = m • x + b where m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept.

To find the slope, m, of a line given two points, you would subtract the y coordinates and divide by the difference of the x coordinates.

Using the points in this problem, the slope ,m , will be:

y₂ - y₁ = -8 - 4 = -12 = -6

x₂ - x₁ -3 - (-5) 2

The slope of any line parallel to the line drawn thru the given points will also be -6

Answer 2

Since the slope of a line given the points (x₁, y₁) and (x₂, y₂) is m = (y₂ - y₁)/(x₂ - x₁), we can use the formula to input the given numbers:

m = (4 - (-8))/(-5 - (-3)) = (4 + 8)/( -5 + 3) = 12/-2 = -6.

We can also use the fact that parallel lines always have the same slope. Therefore, the answer is -6.