What is the slope of the line that passes through the pair of points #(-7/2, -3)# and #(-5, 5/2)#?

1 Answer
Jun 1, 2018

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

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)(5/2) - color(blue)(-3))/(color(red)(-5) - color(blue)(-7/2))#

#m = (color(red)(5/2) + color(blue)(3))/(color(red)(-5) + color(blue)(7/2))#

#m = (color(red)(5/2) + color(blue)((2/2 xx 3)))/(color(red)((2/2 xx -5)) + color(blue)(7/2))#

#m = (color(red)(5/2) + color(blue)(6/2))/(color(red)(-10/2) + color(blue)(7/2))#

#m = (11/2)/(-3/2)#

#m = (11 xx 2)/(-3 xx 2)#

#m = -22/6#

#m = -11/3#