How do I find the slope of an equation in the form #y = mx + b#?

1 Answer
Sep 21, 2014

If the equation is in the form of y=mx+b, your slope is represented by the variable m.

Example 1 :
If you have an equation like y = - 3x + 5, then your slope is - 3 since m = - 3.

Example 2:
If you have an equation like 4x + 2y = 6, you would need to solve for y.
First step you would do is subtract 4x to both sides.
4x + 2y - 4x= 6 - 4x
2y = -4x + 6
Second step you divide by 2.
#(2y)/2# = #(-4x)/2# + #6/2#
y = -2x + 3
Therefore the slope of the equation is -2, since m = -2.