Question

How do you find the slope given (-2,5) (3,-4)?

Answer 1

`m=(rise)/(run)=-9/5`

Explanation:

The slope of a line is often thought of as "rise over run" - that is, if you know two points, measure the distance it moves along the y axis (with up being positive) and put that in the numerator, and then measure the distance it moves along the x axis (with to the right being positive) and put that in the denominator. That will look like this:

Let's do the "rise" first. The y value is the second value in each ordered pair, so it's 5 in the first pair and -4 in the second. The movement from 5 to -4 is a movement of 9 places and the direction is down - and so we'll say that the "rise" = `-9`.

Now let's do the "run". The x value is the first value in each ordered paid, so it's `-2` in the first pair and 3 in the second pair. The movement from -2 to 3 is a movement of 5 places and the direction is to the right - and so we'll say that the "run" = 5.

We can now fill in our numbers. Slope generally uses the symbol `m` (for no reason I can find), so our equation is:

`m=(rise)/(run)=-9/5`