Question

What is the slope of the line

Answer 1

Answer: -1

Remember: RISE/RUN (y/x). Lines that are increasing have a positive slope, and lines that are decreasing have a negative slope.

You can find the slope in two ways:

1. Useful if the line is graphed: count the units between 2 points on the line.

• Let's use the points (0, 2) and (1, 1).
• (0, 2) on the line is 1 unit higher than (1, 1) and 1 to the left of (1, 1).
• Because the line is decreasing, the slope is negative.
• Therefore, the slope is -1.

2. Useful if the line is not graphed: find the difference between the y-coordinate values divided by the difference of the x-coordinate values.

• Let's use the points (0, 2) and (1, 1).
• 
  `(1 - 2)/(1 - 0) = (-1)/(1)  = -1`
• Therefore, the slope is -1.

Answer 2

The slope of a line is the steepness of the line. There are many ways to think about slope. Slope is the rise over the run, the change in 'y' over the change in 'x', or the gradient of a line.