how do you find the slope of (1,4) and (2,8)

Answer 1

To find the slope using two points always remember rise over run.

Rise is the y values.

Run is the x values.

We need to take the difference in y values and divide by the difference in x values.

Also remember that ordered pairs are in the order (x,y). (x comes before y in the alphabet and in the ordered pair)

The equation looks like

(y₂-y₁)/(x₂-x₁)

It does not matter which number you choose to be y₁ as long as x₁ comes from the same ordered pair.

We can do (8-4)/(2-1) or (4-8)/(1-2) but NOT (8-4)/(1-2).

In (8-4)/(2-1) we get 4/1 = 4

In (4-8)/(1-2) we get -4/-1 = 4

So for this problem, the slope is 4.

Hope this helps!