How do you find the slope given (9,3) and (4,2)?

Question

3281 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-05-15T15:22:10

See a solution process below:

The formula for find the slope of a line is:

#m = (color(red)(y_2) - color(blue)(y_1))/(color(red)(x_2) - color(blue)(x_1))#

Where #(color(blue)(x_1), color(blue)(y_1))# and #(color(red)(x_2), color(red)(y_2))# are two points on the line.

Substituting the values from the points in the problem gives:

#m = (color(red)(2) - color(blue)(3))/(color(red)(4) - color(blue)(9)) = (-1)/-5 = 1/5#

Answer 2 · 2018-05-15T15:23:28

#m# = #1/5#

When given two points, use this equation to find the slope:

#(Y_2 - Y_1)/(X_2 - X_1)# = #m#, the slope

Your ordered pairs will be labeled as the #y#'s and #x#'s in order to plug it into this equation. Let's label them:

#(9, 3)# #(X_1, Y_1)#
#(4, 2)# #(X_2, Y_2)#

Now, plug your variables into the equation. Use what you've labeled as a reference.

#(2 - 3)/(4 - 9)# = #m#

Subtract and simplify.

#(-1)/(-5)# = #m#

Because two negatives create a positive, the slope becomes #1/5#.
Therefore, #m# = #1/5#.