Algebra 1 slopes

Question

what is the slope of the line that passes through the points (-8 3) and (-8 2)

Answer 1

Slope is the rise [change in vertical] over [divided by their change in horizontal] so when you have two points on a line (x₁,y₁) & (x₂,y₂) you can determine the slope by y₂-y₁ ⁄ x₂-x₁

so 2-3 ⁄-8-(-8) = -1/0 which is undefined so no slope

Answer 2

The key to answering this question is to know the definition of SLOPE.

Slope is the change of y divided by the change of x. It takes two numbers to calculate CHANGE, since change is the DIFFERENCE.

The general equation for slope is (y1 – y2) / (x1 – x2). You can write it as (y2 – y1) / (x2 – x1); it makes no difference. It is only important that if you use that the first x and first y that you use are the coordinates from one point on the line and that the first x and first y that you use are the coordinates from a different point on the line. You could plot these lines to see that.

I should say that if the denominator of the slope is 0, then the slope is undefined. It is a vertical line, and we can't say whether the slope is infinitely small or infinitely large; thus, it is undefined.

So, to calculate the slope for the two points you were given just do the calculation for:

(3 — 2) / (–8 – [–8])

For those super-observant folks, they may have noticed that the two points have the same x-coordinate, meaning that we are dealing with a vertical line.