How do you find the slope of (4,5) and (9,-10)?

1 Answer
Feb 3, 2015

Slope is defined as the difference in yy per unit xx

As we don't have units here, we divide the change in yy by the change in xx, or in formula (Delta means change):
Slope= (Deltay)/(Deltax)=(y_2-y_1)/(x_2-x_1)=(-10-5)/(9-4)=(-15)/5=-3

Now we're at it we can also define the whole equation:

Just put in the numbers for one of the points:
y=ax+b->5=-3*4+b->b=17
So the equation will be: y=-3x+17
graph{-3x+17 [-44.86, 59.17, -26.06, 25.96]}
And you can check your answer against the other point:
-3x+17=-3*9+17=-10 which is correct.