How do you determine the slope of the line passing through (2, –5) and (–1, –1)?

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Answer 1 · 2015-06-19T18:30:33

slope = (change in $y$ $y$ ) / (change in $x$ $x$ ) $= - \frac{4}{3}$ $= -4/3$

If a line passes through $(x_{1}, y_{1})$ $(x_1, y_1)$ and $(x_{2}, y_{2})$ $(x_2, y_2)$ then it's slope is given by the formula:

slope $m = (Delta y)/(Delta x) = (y_2 - y_1)/(x_2 - x_1)$

In our example,

$(x_1, y_1) = (2, -5)$ and $(x_2, y_2) = (-1, -1)$

so

$m = (y_2 - y_1)/(x_2 - x_1)$

$= (-1 - (-5))/(-1 - 2) = 4/(-3) = -4/3$